THREE  OF  A 
KIND 

RICHARD  BURTON 


o/? 
c? c"  / 


• 


SO  THE  THREE  FACED  THE  OTHER  TWO. 

[Frontispiece.    See  p.  ISO. 


THREE  OF  A  KIND 

THE    STORY  OF  AN    OLD    MUSICIAN 
A   NEWSBOY    AND    A    COCKER    DOG 


BT 

RICHARD    BURTON 

AUTHOR  OF 

;  DUMB  IN  JUNE,"  "  BAHAB,"  "  LITERABY 
"LIKINGS,"  ETC. 


Illustrated  from  drawings  by 
FRANK   T.    MERRILL 


BOSTON 

LITTLE.  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 
1908 


0*    CALiK  LiBilAKX.  LOS  ANGELEfe 


Copyright,  1908, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 

All  rights  reserved. 


printers 
3.  J.  PARKHILL  A  Co.    BOSTON,  U.  S.  A. 


To  the  gentle  might  of  music;  to  the  won- 
derful magic  of  love;  and  to  the 
dear  memory  of  Dun. 


PREFACE 

Is  there  not  something  heart-warming, 
O  Reader,  in  the  very  number  three,  — 
hardly  less  mystic,  too,  in  its  suggestions 
than  the  number  seven  ?  Is  it  not  a  foul 
misrepresentation,  the  saying  that  two's 
company,  three  is  a  crowd  ?  By  the 
shades  of  Athos,  Porthos,  and  Aramis,  a 
thousand  times,  Yea !  Do  not  the  theodi- 
cies  of  all  nature  make  sacred  the  august 
mystery  of  the  trinity,  while  for  humbler 
uses,  mankind  has  ever  and  anon  seized 
on  triple  alliances,  whether  stately  with 
the  nations  or  simple  in  some  fireside 
group,  to  express  its  faith  in  such  a 
numeral.  The  very  word  tribe  bears 
witness  to  its  ancient  power.  In  Mother 
vii 


Preface 

Goose  we  count  "  one,  two,  three,  out 
goes  she,"  and  the  words  are  ruddy 
with  childhood  joys:  we  call  for  "  three 
times  three  "  right  heartily  when  we 
cheer  the  flag;  or,  straining  at  our  posts, 
wait  until  the  number  be  counted,  ere 
racing  for  the  coveted  goal.  Man's  life, 
sacred  or  secular,  ethnic  or  individual, 
is  inextricably  intertwined  with  this 
thought  of  three.  Listen  then,  to  a  little 
tale  of  three  friends,  and  may  it,  albeit 
homely  enough,  serve  to  strengthen  our 
belief  that  it  is  a  genial  good  number 
for  life  or  literature,  all  about  the  world. 


vni 


CONTENTS 


I.    THE  THREE  AT  HOME 3 

II.  How  NUMBER  Two  CAME      ....  25 

III.  THE  COMING  OP  NUMBER  THREE  ...  51 

IV.  SUNDAY  AFIELD 71 

V.    DUN  TO  THE  RESCUE 101 

VI.    LUCK  CHANGES 125 

VII.  THE  WOLF  AND  THE  Doo       .       .       .       .149 

VIII.     FATHER  AND  SON 187 

IX.    A  PAIR  OF  MUMMERS 209 

X.  CHRISTMAS  EVE        ....*.  243 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

SO    THE    THREE    FACED    THE    OTHER    TWO  Frontispiece 

THE  DOG  SHOWED  NOT  THE  SLIGHTEST  IN- 
TENTION OF  DEPARTURE  .  .  .  Page  57 

THE  OLD  MUSICIAN  WAS  MAKING  HIS  FIDDLE 

SING "108 

BOTH  BOY  AND  MAN  RESTED  THEIR  HANDS 
GENTLY  ON  THE  WAVY  BLACK  HAIR  OF 
THE  FAITHFUL  DOG  "  26G 


I 

THE    THREE    AT    HOME 


THE    THREE 
AT    HOME 


THE  strains  of  Beethoven's  "  Fare- 
well   to  the  Piano,"  beseeching, 
tender,     filled     the     low-ceiled, 
roomy  garret-place   with   peace.     There, 
was  in  the  music,  along  with  the  beauti- 
ful melancholy  of  autumn,  —  the  mood 
that    looks    back    and    remembers    and 
grieves,  —  the  wistful  hope  that  is  in  a 
3 


Three  of  a  Kind 


spring  day,  as  delicate  as  the  green  of 
willows  beside  a  swollen  stream  in  April. 
As  Ludovic  played,  Phil  paused  now 
and  then  in  his  task  of  instructing  the 
dog  Dun  to  hold  a  newspaper  in  his 
mouth,  while  he  stood  erect  on  hind 
feet  and  danced,  so  it  seemed,  to  the 
rhythmic  bowing  of  the  old  musician. 
Dun  was  as  yet  far  from  an  adept  at 
the  game.  Phil,  with  a  bundle  of  papers 
under  his  arm,  w^ould  offer  one  to  the 
dog,  who,  dog-like,  would  snuff  at  it, 
his  plastic  tail  expressive  of  pleasant 
expectation :  and  upon  the  discovery 
that  it  was  neither  food  nor  the  still  more 
coveted  sweet  would  back  away  writh  a 
noticeable  diminution  of  fervor,  a  sort 
of  kindly  reproach  showing  in  all  his 
body.  The  boy  would  then  set  him  up 
again  on  his  hind  legs,  a  position  to 
which  Dun  took  with  an  amazed  reluc- 
4 


tance,  and,  forcing  open  his  teeth,  place 
a  newspaper  between  them;  and  then, 
moving  a  few  feet  back,  aim  a  stern 
forefinger  at  the  animal  and  speak  this 
admonitory  word :  "  Stand  up  and  sell 
it,  Dun,  that's  the  dog : "  whereupon 
Dun  would  gleefully  respond  by  promptly 
resuming  his  four-footed  position  with 
a  cheerful  bark  —  and  so  lose  his  grip 
on  the  paper. 

Tirelessly,  at  least  on  the  part  of  the 
lad,  was  this  routine  gone  through  with: 
and  again  and  again  would  the  small 
black  cocker  drop  the  paper  and  run  to 
where  Ludovic  bent  over  his  violin, 
throw  back  his  head  and  howl  in  unison 
with  the  instrument;  sensitive,  it  would 
appear,  to  the  tune,  —  whether  pleas- 
antly or  the  reverse  was  not  for  the 
casual  observer  to  say.  Then  would 
Phil  call  him  back  to  his  practice,  and 
5 


Three  of  a  Kind 


the  manoeuvre,  evidently  utilitarian  in 
its  purpose,  be  resumed,  much  to  the 
discomfiture  of  Dun,  who,  with  a  soul 
attuned  to  the  great  master,  ill-brooked 
so  mundane  a  discipline  as  that  set  by 
newsboy  Phil.  But  the  dog  loved  the 
boy,  and  the  reward  of  a  stroking  hand 
on  his  ear,  or  a  much  delectated  choco- 
late drop,  was  enough  to  put  him  instantly 
in  high  good  humor:  testified  to  by 
sparkling  brown  eyes  and  fairly  vocal 
tail ;  surely,  the  poet's  words, 

"  Something  sweet  in  the  mouth 
Makes  all  things  sweet  for  a  boy," 

applies  with  equal  force  to  his  canine 
companion. 

The    afternoon    shadows     lengthened 

among    the    trees    of    the   old   graveyard 

across  the  way,  upon  which  their  dormer 

window  looked :  and  the  softened  light,  a 

6 


The  Three  at  Home 


light  that  seemed  to  emphasize  the  higher 
values  of  life,  touched  the  old,  worn 
furniture  of  the  room  to  a  certain  poetry 
and  dignity.  It  was  no  common  room 
this,  you  felt  on  entering  it.  The  eye 
rested  with  surprise  and  pleasure  on  the 
wainscoted  walls,  the  smooth  old  oak 
of  the  floor,  the  dark  rafters  above 
which  gave  almost  a  baronial  suggestion 
to  the  quarters.  The  meddling  philan- 
thropy which  might  climb  these  stairs 
ran  the  risk  of  disappointment  on  enter- 
ing such  a  habitation,  humble  as  it 
seemed:  only  the  social  bore  or  bar- 
barian could  have  patronized  it  as  the 
haunt  of  the  "  worthy  poor,"  -  though 
it  was  at  the  top  of  several  panting 
flights  of  stairs,  innocent  of  an  elevator. 
It  was  because  the  occupants  were  so 
high,  perhaps,  that  the  rent  was  so  ac- 
commodatingly low. 


Three  of  a  Kind 


With  quiet  satisfaction,  too,  the  eye 
might  note  the  quaint  corner  lowboy,  into 
whose  drawers  were  crammed  the  music 
compositions  accumulated  through  long 
years  by  Ludovic ;  the  centre  table  of  oak 
grown  black  with  time,  the  legs  curiously 
carved  into  writhen  shapes  resembling 
the  gargoyles  of  mediaeval  cathedrals,  — 
the  board  from  which  they  partook  of 
their  daily  meals;  there  was  the  cur- 
tained recess  opposite  the  window,  behind 
which,  among  more  miscellaneous  treas- 
ures, was  a  choice  collection  of  fiddles, 
the  musician's  extravagance  —  for  he 
knew  the  inward  and  esoteric  differences 
between  an  Amati  and  a  Stradivarius, 
as  you  know  the  palm  of  your  hand,  and 
although  such  heirlooms  and  windfalls 
were,  of  course,  far  beyond  him,  he  had 
gradually  gathered  together  a  little  col- 
lection which  contained  instruments  of 
8 


The  Three  at  Home 


genuine   interest  and  value   to   the   con- 
noisseur. 

Then  there  was  the  homely  cozy- 
looking  corner  fire-place  where,  on  this 
keen  November  afternoon,  a  deep  red 
glow  from  the  remains  of  a  hard-wood 
fire  sent  forth  a  comfortable  warmth  and 
bathed  the  furnishings  in  a  rich  light. 
It  was  another  of  Ludovic's  extrava- 
gances, this  open  fire :  he  had  taken 
the  apartment  years  before,  though  the 
rent  had  been  for  him  excessive,  allured 
by  its  possibilities  for  homely  comfort ;  — 
chief  among  them  the  friendly  fire,  which 
is  the  eye  of  the  house,  even  as  the  river 
is  the  eye  of  the  landscape.  A  dominant 
feature  of  the  room  was  the  queer  old 
screen,  shutting  off  one  corner.  It  was 
of  Spanish  leather,  with  a  design  that 
transported  you  at  once  to  some  ancient 
chapel-of-ease.  Its  use  was  multiple; 
9 


Three  of  a  Kind 


behind  it  were  still  other  of  the  musician's 
precious  plunder,  bits  and  oddities  he 
had  acquired ;  and  not  only  was  it  a 
convenient  hiding  place  for  the  human 
members  of  the  household,  but  it  was 
the  favorite  retiring  place  also  of  the  dog, 
whose  tiny  bit  of  carpet  was  spread  there, 
and  more  in  use  than  any  prayer-rug  out 
of  the  East. 

Thus,  although  there  were  signs  a- 
plenty  of  straitened  means,  there  was 
something  indescribably  picturesque  in 
the  colors  and  contours  of  this  livirig- 
room;  as  the  name  implies,  eminently 
livable  it  was,  a  place  for  homely 
human  comradeship,  a  shelter  fragrant 
with  the  incommunicable  magic  of  love. 

Three  doors  led  from  this  main  room : 

one  to  the  outer  hall,  one  to  a  small  inner 

bed-room,  and  yet  another  giving  on  a 

tiny   kitchen    where    the    master   of    the 

10 


The  Three  at  Home 


little  menage  concocted  wonderful  dishes 
of  German  tradition;  and  whence  odors 
of  sauer-kraut  and  even  Limburger  pene- 
trated to  a  protesting  outer  world  at 
times.  Looking  at  the  house  without, 
you  saw  that  it  had  stood  there  in  elder, 
better  days,  a  testimonial  to  gentility : 
with  its  quietly  dignified  facade  of  red 
brick  sobered  down  by  time ;  its  touches 
of  white  in  door-sill  and  window-ledge; 
its  air  of  neatness  and  retirement. 

The  street  sloped  downward  from  a 
hill  once  aristocratic,  and  at  its  lower 
end  had  been  encroached  upon  by  busi- 
ness interests,  especially  in  the  malodor- 
ous presence  of  livery  stables,  a  fact  re- 
sulting in  the  pleasantry  which  had  given 
to  that  section  of  Chestnut  Street  the 
ambiguous  name,  Horse  Chestnut.  Lin- 
coln's comment  on  the  mighty  difference 
between  a  horse  chestnut  and  a  chest- 
11 


Three  of  a  Kind 


nut  horse  seemed  hardly  applicable  here. 
Ludovic  was  the  natural  centre  of  this 
home.  His  fifty  odd  years  had  not 
quenched  a  kind  of  inalienable  youthful- 
ness  which  lay  in  the  very  turn  of  his  head, 
the  quick  alert  movements  of  his  body, 
and  the  shifting  coal-fire  glow  of  his  eye 
when  excitement  aroused  him  out  of  some 
music  dream.  To  be  sure,  the  once 
black  hair,  pushed  back  from  a  noble 
brow  --he  had  the  head  of  a  true  musi- 
cian —  was  streaked  with  gray.  No 
matter:  Ludovic  would  never  be  old 
in  the  unhappy  sense  of  the  word ;  for 
the  idealist  remains  a  boy  to  the  end, 
and  a  boy  he  still  was,  as  he  laid  aside 
the  instrument  and  chuckled  to  see  Dun 
mastering  the  intricacies  of  the  new  game 
nor  venturing  foot  to  floor  until  a  snap 
of  Phil's  finger  and  the  rewarding  caress 
gave  him  permission. 
12 


The  Three  at  Home 


"  Good,  good,  thou  little  hound,"  he 
said,  as  he  placed  the  violin  lovingly  in 
its  black  leather  case  and  set  it  in  its 
corner  place :  *  Thou  wilt  make  our 
fortune  yet,  not?  Phil's  and  mine  and 
thine:  Du  Lieber,  but  I  must  come  to 
the  street  corner  yet,  and  make  music 
mit,  or  thou  wilt  never  sell  papers  for 
the  Kleine,  —  two  babies  thou  art  to- 
gether.'' 

And  Ludovic  wagged  his  mane  affec- 
tionately, as  he  disappeared  into  the  inner 
chamber,  to  lay  aside  his  velvet  smoking- 
jacket  and  don  a  conventional  long- 
tailed  coat;  in  the  which  arrayed,  he 
descended  the  three  flights  of  stairs  with 
a  clatter  of  his  stout  foreign-looking 
shoes,  on  his  way  to  the  vaudeville  house 
where,  though  it  was  Sunday,  he  must 
play  the  program  of  more  or  less  cheap 
selections  which  was  his  nightly  disci- 
13 


Three  of  a  Kind 


pline.  He  knew  and  revered  the  master 
composers  of  his  native  Germany,  but 
for  bread's  sake  he  shared  in  the  daily 
execution  --  how  ominous  and  fit  the 
word  !  —  of  the  operatic  ephemera  of  the 
day.  Once  more  in  his  comfortable 
garret  room,  it  was  his  consolation  to  pour 
balm  upon  his  bruised  spirit  by  copious 
applications  of  Bach  and  Handel  and 
Mendelssohn;  above  all,  of  Beethoven, 
his  chief  worship,  whose  headship  over 
all  the  world  of  tone  was  the  vital  clause 
in  his  creed. 

At  first  blush,  you  would  have  said 
they  were  very  unlike,  these  three.  What 
can  be  the  resemblance  between  a  Ger- 
man violinist,  a  newsboy  and  a  cocker 
spaniel  ?  Yet  here  was  a  confederation 
such  as  few  states  or  other  human  asso- 
ciations can  boast;  three  of  a  kind  they 
were,  in  very  truth.  Love  bound  them 
14 


The  Three  at  Home 


each  to  each  in  the  unity  of  the  simple 
heart.  And  the  manner  of  their  coming 
together  shall  be  told. 

Ludovic  was  a  North  German,  a 
native  of  Cassel.  Music  he  had  drunk 
in  as  a  boy  in  that  pretty  little  Hessian 
city,  where  his  father  had  been  a  band- 
master: music  was  as  much  a  part  of 
him  as  bread  and  beer.  Not  to  follow 
the  same  profession  had  never  even 
occurred  to  his  mind.  Caught  in  the 
great  stream  of  immigration  which  seemed 
to  sing  a  song  of  hope  to  the  hosts  of 
the  elder  lands,  he  had  come,  long  years 
before,  to  America,  a  young  man  with 
a  happy  knack  at  the  fiddle,  an  honest 
open  face  under  his  wavy  hair  and,  deep 
down  in  his  heart,  the  desire  to  become 
rich  and  famed;  but  not  for  himself 
he  wished  it,  ach,  no  —  that  he  might 
send  for  Hilda,  to  join  him  in  the  great 
15 


Three  of  a  Kind 


new  splendid  country  and  be  his  bride. 

He  was  getting  on  for  old  now,  and 
Hilda  had  never  come;  he  did  not  even 
know  her  fate;  yet  he  was  not  unhappy. 
Music  had  been  a  faithful  mistress,  and 
his  life,  inconspicuous  though  it  might 
be,  brought  him  his  full  share  of  cheer 
and  comfort.  Only  it  was  as  if  the  original 
spring  of  action  had  been  broken;  the 
native  resiliency  was  there  still,  but  the 
motive  for  doing  —  that  had  been  killed, 
long,  long  ago. 

In  those  more  prosperous  times,  he 
had  been  a  member  of  a  distinguished 
symphony  orchestra,  whose  standing 'set 
a  seal  of  ability  on  all  its  personnel;  it 
was  a  place  to  which  his  talents  naturally 
called  him.  He  made  no  murmur  that 
of  late  years  his  fate  had  turned  dingier 
and  brought  him  employment  at  the 
humbler  playhouses.  It  was  no  diminu- 
16 


The  Three  at  Home 


tion  of  skill  nor  dimming  of  ideals  that 
had  wrought  the  change :  a  disagreement 
with  his  old  leader  over  a  technical  point 
of  interpretation ;  an  unnecessary  sticking 
to  his  side  of  the  argument  —  and  dis- 
missal, —  that  was  all.  The  essential 
trouble  was  that  Ludovic  was  what  is 
called  unambitious;  he  who  feeds  on 
dreams  is  often  careless  as  to  his  daily 
meat.  He  had  even  at  times,  under 
pressure,  become  a  member  of  an  itin- 
erant street  band,  and  in  that  capacity 
breathed  a  certain  dignity  into  a  trom- 
bone, nor  been  unhappy  in  such  en- 
deavor. It  was  a  sign  of  delicate  dis- 
crimination that  he  chose  such  an  in- 
strument. He  could  not  have  brought 
himself  quite  to  use  his  beloved  fiddle  un- 
der such  circumstances :  perhaps,  too,  he 
recognized  that  the  trombone,  like  the 
violin  among  the  strings,  is  the  one 
17 


Three  of  a  Kind 


wind  instrument  which  runs  the  chromatic 
full  scale  —  and  so  possesses  wider  and 
almost  human  possibilities  of  expression. 
Perhaps  Ludovic  too  easily  fell  into 
that  satisfaction  with  the  private  inner 
life,  in  which,  for  your  true  idealist,  often 
lies  the  doom  of  what  the  world  calls 
success.  Food  and  drink  enough  to 
sustain  life,  a  roof  over  his  head,  a  few 
friends  tried  and  true,  --  his  fiddle  and 
his  dreams:  Lieber  Herr  Gott,  what 
would  you  more  ?  "  Not  as  the  world 
loves,  lovest  thou  me."  So  Ludovic 
lived  the  life  of  the  affections  and  was 
content:  disillusionment  with  him,  if 
indeed  you  can  call  it  such,  had  no  touch 
of  cynicism  or  sour  kicking  against  the 
pricks. 

And   why  had   not   Hilda   come  ?     In 
agony  had   Ludovic   asked   himself   that 
question    years    ago,    before    the    kindly 
18 


The  Three  at  Home 


passing  of  time  had  gentled  the  hot  throbs 
of  pain  and  blurred  the  keenness  of  the 
hurt.  His  letters  had  remained  unan- 
swered. No  clue  with  her  could  be 
established.  Inquiries  of  friends  at  Cassel 
had  simply  elicited  the  reply  that  the 
girl  had  suddenly  disappeared,  —  as  they 
had  believed,  to  join  him.  Gradually 
the  conviction  had  deepened  in  Ludovic's 
mind  that  his  sweetheart  had  been  lost 
at  sea,  one  of  the  innumerable  steerage 
passengers  too  humble  and  unknown  to 
count  in  the  blazonry  of  the  daily  press. 
So  he  lived  down  his  grief,  hugged 
his  violin  to  his  breast,  and  went  his  simple 
way,  his  kind  face  more  rugged,  yet  with  a 
certain  mellow  quality  that  made  friends 
for  him  among  children  and  animals  - 
and  with  mature  folk  whose  hearts  could 
respond  to  a  purity  like  Galahad's.  That 
face  of  his  did  not  change  into  hard  set 
19 


Three  of  a  Kind 


lines,  cut  by  business  cares  and  the  fierce 
selfish  competition  for  the  so-called  prizes 
of  earth.  Hilda  -  She  was  ein  Engel  im 
Himmel ;  he  was  here  on  earth,  not  with- 
out his  comfort  and  joy :  it  was  enough. 
And  always  there  was  music:  a  fugue 
of  Bach,  whose  theme  played  hide  and 
seek  with  Beauty;  a  barcarolle  by 
Schumann,  in  which  you  felt  the  very 
motion  of  the  waves,  and  smelt  the  eternal 
tang  of  the  brine :  a  berceuse  wherewith 
Chopin  expressed  for  all  time  the  mother 
love-longing  and  the  sweet  childly  de- 
pendence in  the  cradle;  a  Beethoven 
symphony  broad  as  life  and  uniting  in 
one  great  harmony  the  discordant  myster- 
ies of  fate.  No,  with  such  divine  com- 
panions to  attend  his  leisure  hours,  or 
sweeten  his  hours  of  work,  Ludovic  did 
not  walk  alone  nor  uncomforted.  Then, 
too,  did  he  not  have,  for  fellow  farers 
20 


The  Three  at  Home 


along  the  same  dusty  highway,  Phil,  the 
newsboy,  and  Dun,  the  dog  ?  And  now 
we  must  hear  of  their  coming  to  him  and 
of  the  great  love  that  sprang  up  between 
three  of  a  kind. 


21 


II 

HOW   NUMBER   TWO   CAME 


HOW   NUMBER 
TWO   CAME 


LATE  one  night  in  autumn,  a  year 
before  the   tale   opens,  Ludovic, 
his    orchestra    work    over,    was 
on  his  way  home,  and  passing  through 
an    alley   that   made    a   short   cut   from 
one  thoroughfare  to  another,  he  paused 
a  moment  at   the    edge   of   the  curb,  to 
watch  a  noisy  circle  of  street  boys  whose 
25 


Three  of  a  Kind 


vociferations  rent  the  night  air  and 
accented  the  customary  absence  of  a 
policeman.  It  was  evident  that  the 
center,  of  which  these  youngsters 
formed  the  circumference,  was  re- 
served for  one  of  those  fisticuffs,  im- 
promptu or  planned,  which  are  the  de- 
light of  unregenerate  America  in  our 
cities.  Yes,  there  they  were,  at  it  ham- 
mer and  tongs,  Ludovic  saw  as  he  drew 
near;  a  torch  held  in  the  hands  of  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  gang,  threw  shadows 
on  the  combatants :  the  group  stood  out 
in  a  chiaroscuro  that  only  a  Correggio 
might  have  matched;  the  musician  felt 
the  artistic  values  of  the  scene,  but  his 
sense  of  humanity  was  uppermost  rather 
than  his  artistic  sensibility.  For  some- 
thing in  the  pose  and  personality  of  the 
younger  of  the  two  fighting  boys  moved 
his  compassionate  interest;  although  the 
26 


fellow  stood  his  ground  right  sturdily, 
he  was  so  much  the  smaller  of  the  two 
that  the  match  appeared  cruelly  unfair. 
His  companions,  indifferent  to  the  in- 
equality, jeered  at  him  as  he  was  worsted 
in  an  exchange  of  blows  or  a  wrestling 
clinch:  it  is  only  in  Sunday-school 
stories  that  such  onlookers  chivalrously 
espouse  the  cause  of  the  under  dog.  The 
adolescent  sense  of  justice  in  untutored 
young  humanity  is  but  in  the  egg,  at  the 
best. 

But  more  than  the  sense  of  unfair  play 
drew  the  musician  towards  the  lad:  the 
tumble  of  dark  hair  falling  low  over  the 
right  brow,  and  impatiently  thrown  aside 
by  a  quick  jerk  of  the  head ;  the  clear  oval 
of  the  cheek  in  which  a  belligerent  red 
now  flamed ;  more  than  all,  the  dog-like 
look  of  appeal  in  the  fellow's  eyes  —  so 
suggestive  of  fidelity,  —  these  character- 
27 


Three  of  a  Kind 


istics  for  some  reason  moved  Ludovic 
strangely :  it  was  not  that  he  knew  the 
face  and  form,  yet  he  felt  drawn  to  the 
boy,  —  and  as  the  battle  grew  fiercer 
apace,  he  finally  made  up  his  mind  to 
interfere.  A  few  firm  words,  not  unkindly 
spoken,  were  enough : 

"  You  will  stop,  eh !  You  make  me 
call  the  policeman  —  or  that  I  fight  this 
big  bully  myself,  --  ja?  "  With  a  quick 
jerk  of  his  collar  he  sent  the  larger  lad 
spinning  backward.  Ludovic's  frame 
drawn  to  its  full  height  through  indig- 
nation, produced  respect  in  itself:  the 
leonine  ring  in  his  voice  was  unmistak- 
able: apparently  he  could  and  would 
back  up  his  speech  by  action.  The  circle 
melted  away  like  magic  at  a  hint  of  the 
authorities  and  in  a  few  minutes  the 
musician  found  himself  walking  toward 
the  well-lighted  avenue,  his  hand  resting 
28 


How  Number  Two  Came 

fraternally  upon  the  shoulder  of  his  new 
friend. 

"  It's  Phil  they  call  me,"  the  latter 
panted  out',  in  response  to  Ludovic's 
question :  "  I'm  a  newsboy.  I  could  lick 
him,  boss,  if  —  if --ye  hadn't  butted 
in."  He  was  half  sobbing,  half  laughing, 
still  hysterical  with  combat. 

"  The  gang  was  down  on  me,  'cos  I 
beat  'em  out  selling  specials  de  udder 
day,  when  dey  was  tryin'  to  arrest  John 
D.,  yer  know." 

Something  in  that  last  yer  know,  a 
confiding  note,  accompanied  with  an 
upward  glance  that  meant  the  sympathy 
of  the  listener  was  unhesitatingly  as- 
sumed, won  the  other's  heart. 

"  Tell  me  all  of  yourself,  where  you 
live,  mit  who  ?  " 

There  was  the  ring  of  true  liking  in  the 
tone  —  and  it  was  not  lost  on  the  news- 
29 


Three  of  a  Kind 


boy.  The  sturdy  little  fellow's  story  - 
a  story  repeated  in  the  case  of  thousands 
of  such  waifs  who  battle  their  way  up 
into  manhood  or  sink  in  the  struggle 
where  the  odds  are  so  terribly  against 
them  —  was  easily  drawn  out  by  the 
shaggy,  kind,  old  violinist,  with  his  half 
fatherly,  half  fraternal  way.  Phil  re- 
sponded readily  to  kindness  -  -  just  as 
all  mankind  has  ever  responded  to  it, 
since  in  the  annals  of  the  aborigines  the 
first  hand  reached  out  to  another  for  a 
hearty  grip  and  Godspeed. 

He  was  alone  in  the  world,  he  gossiped 
garrulously  on :  of  his  father  and  mother 
he  knew  or  remembered  naught.  He  sold 
papers  for  a  living,  with  an  occasional 
detour  into  boot  blacking:  he  lived  over 
a  shop  in  a  side  street  not  far  from  the 
whizz  of  central  traffic  —  a  consideration 
in  his  business.  Phil  explained  that  he 
30 


How  Number  Two  Came 

'  kept  house,"  looking  up  at  his  inter- 
locutor with  a  smile  that  revealed  very 
white  teeth  between  red  lips,  winsome 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his  upper  lip 
was  badly  puffed  and  one  eye  fast  grow- 
ing dark  around  the  edges.  "  Keeping 
house,"  it  appeared,  was  a  euphuism: 
Phil  hired  a  room  where  he  fed  himself, 
when  he  did  not  eat  at  some  street  stand 
or  night  hawk,  or  in  one  of  the  cheaper 
restaurants. 

"  It's  fine  in  the  summer,  when  there's 
lots  of  fruit  and  penny  ice-cream  in  the 
stand  at  the  corner  —  yum  —  yum  !  But 
it's  on  the  bum,  winters  —  the  landlord 
ain't  throwin'  any  heat  away,"  and  the 
boy's  shoulders  humped  themselves  into 
a  shiver  involuntarily.  It  was  cold  now, 
where  they  stood,  as  the  crisp  autumn 
night  moved  toward  the  bleaker  morn- 
ing. 

31 


Three  of  a  Kind 


And  as  the  young  Arab  of  the  city  had 
talked  on,  more  and  more  Ludovic  had 
become  interested,  attracted.  Before 
their  walk  was  finished,  all  the  sup- 
pressed paternalism  of  his  nature  seemed 
to  surge  up  and  over  into  a  tenderness 
for  the  lad  that  was  almost  inexplicable, 
beyond  analysis.  He  said  good  night 
with  a  strange  reluctance. 

A  few  days  later  he  called  on  Phil  in 
his  room,  saw  its  ugly  comfortlessness 
and  invited  him  to  take  pot  luck  for  over 
Sunday  in  the  cozy  quarters  under  the 
eaves.  Phil  never  went  home  again, 
save  to  tie  his  scant  belongings  into  a 
bundle,  and  notify  his  landlord  of  his 
departure.  He  liked  Ludovic,  trusted 
him  utterly,  was  glad  of  the  companion- 
ship. His  feeling  for  him  was  touched 
with  awe  because  of  the  musician's  gray 
locks  and  power  with  the  bow;  and  too 
32 


How  Number  Two  Came 

the  touch  of  the  foreign  about  him.  To 
Phil,  the  other's  connection  with  the 
orchestra  set  Ludovic  upon  one  of  the 
thrones  of  the  earth.  Moreover,  the  boy 
had  a  natural  love  for  music,  and  never 
tired  of  hearing  the  violinist  play  some  of 
his  favorite  airs :  "  The  Three  Grena- 
diers," or  the  "  Wacht  am  Rhein  " ;  often 
singing  the  words,  too,  in  a  big,  vibrant 
temperamental  German  voice,  while  the 
instrument  fairly  quivered  with  the  pathos 
or  power  of  the  accompaniment. 

Within  a  week  the  pair  were  as  close 
to  each  other,  as  dear  cronies,  as  if  their 
relation  had  been  established  for  years 
on  end.  It  was  a  pleasant  thought  to 
Ludovic,  as  he  would  draw  near  to  his 
lodging  after  the  theater  had  emptied 
its  patrons  into  the  night,  to  know  that 
a  comrade  awaited  him;  Phil  might  be 
asleep,  to  be  sure,  on  the  little  iron  bed- 
33 


Three  of  a  Kind 


stead  which  had  been  purchased  ex- 
pressly for  him  and  set  up  in  the  inner 
room  opposite  to  Ludovic's  ampler  bed; 
a  room  hitherto  useless  except  for  storing 
purposes  but  now  converted  into  a  bed 
chamber;  for  Ludovic  had  been  content 
with  a  cot  behind  the  screen.  And, 
asleep  or  awake,  the  old  musician  knew 
he  was  there,  and  the  thought  made  his 
bachelor  quarters  infinitely  more  like 
home. 

Ludovic  worked  hard  to  interest  Phil 
in  good  reading,  and  bought  picture 
books  of  all  kinds  in  order  to  lure  the  lad 
-  to  whom  two  winters  of  sporadic  at- 
tendance upon  a  night  school  had  im- 
parted the  elements  of  the  three  R's  - 
into  occupying  himself  happily  of  an 
evening  instead  of  lawlessly  roaming  the 
streets.  As  a  pedagogue  no  doubt  the 
violinist  left  much  to  be  desired :  he  was 
34 


How  Number  Two  Came 

no  adept  in  child  psychology  and  the 
very  word  "  methodology  "  would  have 
dazed  him.  But  he  recognized  the  good 
in  the  newsboy  and  loved  him.  Hence 
his  instruction  fell  on  fruitful  soil.  Be- 
fore his  coming,  Phil,  naturally  enough, 
since  he  had  but  his  unspeakable  dreary 
room  to  go  to,  had  spent  his  evenings 
mostly  with  other  boys  of  his  sort: 
in  the  gallery  of  some  variety  theater, 
if  the  day  had  been  lucky  and  they  "  had 
the  price ; "  or  wandering  in  the  alleys 
where  mischief  called  unto  its  own.  But 
with  genuine  interest  and  attraction  at 
home,  even  though  his  friend  the  musi- 
cian could  not  be  there,  Phil  very  will- 
ingly remained  indoors  after  the  evening 
meal.  Man  or  boy,  humanity  follows 
the  line  of  least  resistance  in  such 
matters. 

He  would  busy  himself  with  books  and 
35 


Three  of  a  Kind 


pictures,  or  mercantile  calculations,  — 
for  the  newsboy  took  much  pride  in  his 
work  and  his  first  regular  duty  after  the 
late  supper  was  despatched  —  he  must 
be  at  his  stand  in  the  city's  heart  during 
the  hour  of  golden  harvest  between  six 
and  seven  --  was  to  reckon  up  the  ac- 
count of  the  day's  takings  and  profits; 
which  were  then  duly  entered  with  the 
stub  of  a  pencil  in  a  much-thumbed  and 
frankly  dirty  note-book. 

Phil's  pride  in  this  vesper  transaction 
passed  all  belief.  In  the  first  place,  it 
was  a  practical  demonstration  of  wiiat 
he  had  learned  at  the  night  school;  and 
secondly,  it  showed  that  he  was  steadily 
becoming  a  capitalist,  which  was  as  balm 
to  his  spirit.  Regularly  were  his  earnings 
passed  over  to  Ludovic  for  safe  keeping; 
and  before  they  had  been  six  months 
together,  the  increasing  funds  had  led 
36 


How  Number  Two  Came 

Phil  to  think  seriously  of  a  savings  bank ; 
not  the  big  ones  whose  cashiers  go  wrong, 
but  the  little  iron  ones  with  a  slot  to  re- 
ceive the  coins  and  a  squat  look  of  inac- 
cessibility to  attack,  and  —  a  final  touch 
lifting  it,  at  a  stroke,  into  a  loftier  type  - 
a  little  door  in  the  back  actually  opened 
by  a  bona-fide  key,  for  the  reception,  it 
need  not  be  said,  of  valuable  papers  or 
other  securities  altogether  too  large  for 
the  slit  in  .front. 

Up  to  the  present,  however,  the  boy 
had  been  well  content  to  let  these  accu- 
mulations lie  in  a  certain  old  carven  box 
of  German  manufacture,  one  of  Ludo- 
vic's  treasures :  an  affair  of  dark,  scented 
wood  and  many  compartments,  -  -  just 
the  receptacle  for  hidden  gold  or  roman- 
tic secrets.  Of  a  Sunday,  it  was  his 
keenest  indoor  pleasure  —  yes,  dear 
reader,  keener,  I  regret  to  say,  than  any 
37 


Three  of  a  Kind 


church  observance  or  other  Godly  exer- 
cise, —  to  get  the  box  out  and  tumble 
its  contents  upon  the  floor.  To  see  Phil 
on  such  an  occasion,  his  bronze  hair 
falling  over  the  clear  olive  of  his  cheek 
as  he  sorted  out  the  nickels,  dimes  and 
quarters  into  neat  piles,  and  with  many 
furrowings  of  the  brow,  made  the  addi- 
tions necessary  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
full  sum  of  his  earnings,  would  have 
stirred  the  desire  of  a  painter  of  genre 
subjects.  A  Rembrandt  would  have 
called  it  the  "  The  Boy  Miser  "  (a  great 
injustice  to  Phil)  and  crowds  would  have 
stood  agape  in  a  gallery  before  the  pic- 
ture. More  than  once  (not  without 
secret  sighings  at  the  reduction  of  the 
sum  total)  a  quarter  had  been  abstracted 
from  the  strong  box  of  Phil's  mounting 
ambition,  wherewith  he  purchased,  as  a 
special  treat  for  his  friend,  —  perhaps 
38 


How  Number  Two  Came 

some  of  the  pumpernickel  the  German 
loved,  or  even  the  malodorous  Lim- 
burger:  these  and  other  gastronomic 
dainties  of  the  fatherland  were  tempt- 
ingly displayed  in  the  front  window  of  a 
delicatessen  shop  around  the  corner. 
Phil,  indeed,  had  well-nigh  got  the  es- 
tablishment into  serious  trouble  by  his 
generous  donation  of  Limburger  on  one 
occasion.  Ludovic,  trembling  with  de- 
light, had  hung  the  delectable  on  the 
window-sill,  and  a  limb  of  the  law, 
scenting  the  fray  from  afar,  had  labori- 
ously clumped  up  the  stairs  —  he  was 
like  Hamlet,  "  fat  and  scant  of  breath  " 
-  to  investigate  the  difficulty  with  the 
drain.  Once  aware  of  the  cause,  he 
had  to  the  great  discomfiture  of  the 
occupants,  ordered  the  precious  morsel 
removed : 

"  Yez    can't   make   a   smell   like  that 

30 


Three  of  a  Kind 


public,  —  not  in  this  town,"  he  had 
declared  solemnly,  as  his  cumbersome 
blue  form  descended  to  the  street. 

To  describe  Phil's  feeling  for  Ludo- 
vic,  during  this  period  of  ever  deepening 
intimacy,  as  adoration,  is  to  talk  in  too 
pale  colors  of  a  sentiment  so  prismatic 
in  its  hues  as  to  dazzle  speech.  The 
musician  came  to  be  for  him  at  once 
model,  protector,  king;  and  the  model 
was  matchless,  the  protector  all-power- 
ful, the  king  could  do  no  wrong. 

Phil's  sensitiveness  to  music  was  re- 
markable in  view  of  his  lack  of  training, 
the  nomadic  nature  of  his  brief  life  pre- 
vious to  his  joining  forces  with  the  old 
musician.  Ludovic  learned  that,  whereas 
Phil  was  unknown  to  him  on  the  night 
of  the  rescue,  he  wras  by  no  means  a 
stranger  to  the  newsboy,  who  had  often 
stood  in  the  street  to  hear  Ludovic  play 
40 


How  Number  Two  Came 

at  those  times  when  the  German  had 
been  an  itinerant  Musiker  by  day,  in- 
stead of  a  member  of  the  theater  orches- 
tra by  night.  On  one  occasion,  Phil 
said,  he  had  followed  the  street  band 
from  early  in  the  morning  until  late  in 
the  afternoon,  lured  on  by  piece  after 
piece,  prevailingly  martial  in  kind,  as 
Ludovic  ascertained  by  making  the  lad 
whistle  snatches  of  the  various  airs.  And 
during  his  practice  hours  in  his  room, 
the  musician  noticed  with  pleasure  that 
the  instinctive  taste  of  his  boy  friend  was 
excellent;  although  his  mouth  was  dumb 
to  tell  why  he  liked  a  composition,  he  was 
apt  to  ask  for  those  of  the  better  sort, 
not  the  cheap  trash  in  which  Ludovic 
had  to  be  particeps  criminis,  at  the 
theater.  Phil  had  an  argot  all  his  own 
in  indicating  his  preferences. 

"  Give  us  de  tune  wid  de  twinkle,"  he 
41 


Three  of  a  Kind 


would  say,  and  the  German  had  come  to 
recognize  this  as  a  graceful  trifle  of  Gil- 
let's  called  "  Loin  du  bal."  Or  it  would 
be,  "  How  about  de  one  with  de  stiff  in  it, 
Luddy  ?  "  And  Ludovic's  response  with 
Chopin's  Funeral  March  was  automatic. 
:<  De  piece  where  dey  break  furniture 
and  then  sing  fine  to  cover  up  de  noise, 
see  ?  "  was  his  offhand  description  of  a 
selection  from  the  Niebelungen  played 
in  the  public  park  one  Sunday. 

But  if  language  lacked,  the  funda- 
mental appreciation  was  there ;  it  showed 
in  the  naive  queries  the  boy  showered 
upon  Ludovic,  by  the  heightened  color 
and  even  the  moist  eye  —  tell-tale  signs  of 
which  Phil  was  heartily  ashamed  and 
would  have  denied,  had  they  been  charged 
to  him  withal.  Waif  that  he  was,  wee 
fragment  of  the  city's  flotsam,  he  had 
been  dowered  with  a  nature  attuned  to 
42 


How  Number  Two  Came 

those  high  harmonies  which,  above  all 
other  ways  of  beauty,  seem  to  bring 
heaven  momently  nearest  to  the  work- 
aday earth  whereon  we  tread.  Familiar- 
ity with  the  best  would  do  wonders  with 
such  a  soul.  This  Ludovic  knew  and 
knew  also  that  the  music  gift,  like  many 
a  gift  other,  has  naught  to  do  with  cul- 
ture, place  nor  fortune,  much  as  such 
incidentals  may  do  to  help  it.  So  he 
strove  to  develop  Phil's  dormant  sensi- 
bilities so  far  as  in  his  power  lay,  by  talk- 
ing commonly  of  the  affairs  and  interests 
of  the  music  world,  and  taking  pains  to 
instruct  him  in  the  simpler  essentials  of 
the  art:  the  notes  of  the  scale,  the  ele- 
mentary names  of  the  music  score  and 
the  like. 

It  was  a  sight  not  without  its  pathos 
to  see  little  Phil,  under  instruction,  force 
his  clumsy  gamin  hands  to  pick  the  strings 
43 


Three  of  a  Kind 


of  an  old  violin  which  the  musician 
placed  in  his  arms,  bidding  him  imitate 
his  master  in  the  correct  position,  the 
bowing  and  the  production  of  a  full  tone. 
Progress  was  slow,  for  the  practice  had  to 
be  confined  mostly  to  Sundays;  but  the 
flushed  face  and  eager  eyes  of  the  pupil 
were  a  warrant  of  his  set  purpose  to  make 
the  accomplishment  his  own  in  the  end, 
and  Ludovic  showed  an  infinite  gentle 
patience  in  his  teaching. 

"  Thou  wilt  be  a  Meister  yet,"  he  would 
say  playfully,  by  way  of  encouragement; 
"  a  little  master,  I  shall  call  you." 

And  the  lad,  picking  up  the  word, 
called  the  musician  :<  big  master "  in 
return;  and  the  affectionate  epithets 
became  of  familiar  use  between  them. 

When  Phil  would  stop,  tired  out  and 
discouraged,  maybe,  he  would  get  his 
reward  in  the  beautiful  melodies  the 
44 


How  Number  Two  Came 

other  evoked  from  the  sounding-board, 
which  seemed  suddenly  like  an  Aladdin's 
cave  of  tone  treasures,  pouring  forth  fair 
flocks  and  companies  of  dreams,  until 
the  homely  garret  place  widened  into  some 
stately  pleasure  palace  of  storied  history, 
of  which  they  two  alone  had  the  freedom, 
in  which  they  sat  rejoicing  with  the  joy 
of  the  elect. 

It  was  a  sort  of  shock  —  a  too  sudden 
return  to  mundane  realities  —  when  Lu- 
dovic  at  last  must  cease  playing  and  cry 
out  in  his  sonorous  voice,  with  its  tinge 
of  foreign  accent : 

"  See,  now,  bubchen,  'tis  eleven  of  the 
clock  and  we  must  to  bed  go.  Ein  glass 
beer,  and  then  lights  out." 

Whereupon  Phil,  with  the  music  daze 

still  on  him,  might  have  been  seen  to  arise 

and  busy  himself  with  emptying  a  bottle 

of    Pabst,    kept    religiously    outside    the 

45 


Three  of  a  Kind 


window  for  coolness'  sake,  into  a 
stein  of  noble  proportions  which  stood 
upon  the  mantel  shelf  over  the  fire  place, 
along  with  sundry  other  similar  remind- 
ers of  the  favorite  beverage  of  Deutsch- 
land.  Ludovic  had  the  true  German 
disdain  for  a  mere  glass  as  a  receptacle 
wherefrom  to  quaff  his  best-loved  tipple. 
He  would  have  found  himself  in  hearty 
agreement  with  Mr.  Richard  Swiveller, 
upon  the  classic  occasion  when  that 
gentleman  declared  to  the  Marchioness 
that  beer  couldn't  "  be  tasted  in  sips." 
Ludovic's  evening  drink  was,  with  him, 
as  with  all  idealists  and  artist  souls,  a 
sort  of  social  sacrament,  and  the  stein, 
which  with  its  motto  in  German  script, 
and  its  picture  of  a  group  of  good  fellows, 
served  by  the  jolliest  of  fraiileins,  carried 
the  suggestion  of  an  immemorial  host  of 
boon  companions  who  had  drunk  of  its 
46 


How  Number  Two  Came 

comfortable   contents,  was   an   indispen- 
sable adjunct  to  his  enjoyment. 

And  so,  in  the  whole  big,  busy  selfish 
city,  there  could  scarce  be  found  a  pair 
of  friends  closer  bound  or  more  all- 
sufficient  to  each  other  than  Ludovic  the 
musician  and  Phil  the  newsboy.  And 
yet  they  were  to  learn,  through  the  com- 
ing of  a  third  comrade,  that  their  domes- 
tic felicity  still  failed  of  the  full  happiness 
destined  to  be  their  own. 


47 


Ill 

THE    COMING   OF   NUMBER 
THREE 


THE    COMING   OF 
NUMBER  THREE 


THE  coming  of  the  dog  Dun  was 
in   this  wise.     One    day,  in    the 
bleak  white   of   midwinter,   Phil 
was    standing    at    a    particularly    wind- 
swept   corner,    a     cross-way    of    traffic 
where  the  sale  of  newspapers  to  home- 
returning    toilers    was   keenest  after  five 
o'clock  in   the   afternoon.     He  was  cry- 
51 


Three  of  a  Kind 


ing  in  his  clear  treble  and  with  the 
phonetics  peculiar  to  his  craft:  :<  Here 
y're,  Evenin'  Post,  Extry:  Tribyune,  all 
about  the  big  fire :  I-talian  earthquake, 
five  hundred  swallowed  up  alive." 

In  the  dream  of  world  peace  which 
to-day  sets  a  few  prescient  souls  aflame, 
I  wonder  if  they  include  a  kind  of  peace, 
less  martial  yet  equally  desirable:  that 
which  begins  at  home  and  means  that 
our  daily  prints  can  be  haw^ked  with  the 
same  profit  without  raucous-voiced  news- 
boys fouling  the  air  with  their  cries  of 
lust,  murder  and  sudden  disaster  —  just 
the  sort  of  thing  from  which  poor  hu- 
manity would  flee  when  it  goes  forth  of 
a  morning  fresh  from  sleep  and  with  hope 
at  heart,  or  as  it  goes  home  to  rest  and 
take  comfort  after  the  strain  of  the  work- 
ing hours  ? 

Think  of  the  relief,  the  joy,  of  hearing 
52 


The  Coining  of  Number  Three 

such  corner  calls  as  these :  "  Here  y're  ! 
Restoration  of  kidnapped  boy !  Just 
out !  Special :  Millionaire's  gift  to  the 
blind !  Big  sensation :  Honest  thief  in 
State's  Prison !  Extry :  Hero  saves  a 
railroad  train  !  "  Really,  when  you  stop 
to  think  of  it,  there  are  a  lot  of  dramatic 
occurrences  in  a  day,  doings  which  are 
neither  grim  nor  terrible :  acts  that  en- 
courage humanity  in  the  triumphal 
march  towards  better  things.  Mayhap 
the  day  will  come  when  we  shall  no 
longer  be  asked  to  breakfast  with  dis- 
aster and  sup  on  horrors.  Meanwhile, 
the  yellow  journal  feeds  itself  fat  on  such 
food;  which  is  where  it  differs  from  a 
yellow  dog. 

Suddenly,  at  Phil's  feet  stood  a  little 
animal  looking  up  at  him  in  utter  friend- 
liness, the  eye  a-yearn  as  only  a  dog's  can, 
the    tail    supplementing    the    eye-speech 
53 


Three  of  a  Kind 


with  no  less  eloquence  of  love.  It  seemed 
a  telepathic  recognition,  an  unprecedented 
offer  of  brotherhood.  The  fine  silky, 
black  hair  of  the  brute  (how  one  hates 
to  use  the  word  where  Love  is  ),  a  cocker 
spaniel,  by  breed,  was  wofully  bemired, 
his  feathers  drooped  disconsolate.  But 
his  whole  bearing  was  gay,  not  dejected : 
the  very  spirit  of  the  light-foot  comrade 
shone  forth  from  his  entire  personality. 
Moreover,  his  points,  although  obscured 
by  his  present  plight,  were  aristocratic 
for  the  knowing  eye.  So  he  stood  gazing 
up  at  the  lad,  barking  now  and  again  to 
attract  attention,  if  Phil's  business  cares 
took  his  eye  from  this  new  friend.  It  was 
as  if  the  dog  said  in  so  many  words :  "  I 
like  you,  I  need  you ;  make  me  yours  and 
all  will  be  well." 

And  it  was  evident  that  this  appeal  was 
not  made  piteously,  but  as  man  to  man, 
54 


The  Coming  of  Number  Three 

because  of  an  instant  perception  in  the 
canine  mind  that  here  was  a  fellow  after 
his  own  heart.  In  the  big  world  of  hu- 
mans, these  sudden  likings  are  common 
enough.  Some  of  us  even  believe  in  love 
at  first  sight,  —  or  if  we  don't,  our  chil- 
dren do,  and  act  accordingly,  much  to 
our  alarm.  Why  then,  forsooth,  should 
we  not  allow  the  same  privilege  to  ani- 
mals, whose  instincts  take  the  place  of 
our  boasted  reasoning  faculties  and  not 
seldom  make  those  faculties  look  slow 
and  blundering?  Half  the  romance  of 
history  begins  thus,  with  the  chance 
meeting  of  strangers  at  the  cross-ways 
of  Life. 

There  was  nothing  to  mark  ownership 
in  the  dog;  no  collar  adorned  his  neck, 
nor  were  there  signs  of  gentle  care  in 
his  keeping.  Yet,  as  we  said,  Nature  had 
made  him  a  beautiful  creature:  with  his 
55 


Three  of  a  Kind 


luxuriant  soft  thick  coat,  handsomely 
feathered,  with  the  slender  snout  es- 
teemed of  fanciers,  and  with  animation 
and  ease  in  all  his  movements;  and  with 
the  crowning  gift  and  grace  of  rich  brown 
eyes,  which  now,  seeking  Phil's,  held  a 
pleading  that  was  well-nigh  irresistible. 
Phil  took  him  to  be  homeless,  or  lost,  at 
any  rate,  in  the  devious  paths  of  the  city, 
in  that  section  of  it  where  ancient  cow- 
paths  and  tortuous  lanes  have  resulted 
in  a  down-town  tangle,  apt  to  confuse 
even  the  superior  intellect  of  man. 

This  cocker  had  a  way  of  looking  up 
at  you,  head  perked  a  little  to  one  side, 
one  ear  drooping  properly  forward  but 
the  other  turned  coquettishly  back,  and 
with  an  arch,  quizzical  expression  of 
countenance  which  had  all  the  effect  of 
a  keen  appreciation  of  the  humors  of 
life ;  and  was  potent  to  draw  out  affection 
56 


THE      DOG     SHOWED     NOT      THE      SLIGHTEST     INTENTION     OF 
DEPARTURE. 

[Page  57, 


The  Coming  of  Number  Three 

in  every  one  save  those  unfortunates  con- 
demned by  an  inscrutable  fate  to  indiffer- 
ence toward  man's  best  friend  among 
brute  kind.  He  took  that  pose  now,  and 
Phil  was  a  ready  victim.  Young  as  he 
was,  he  could  feel  in  a  vague  way  the 
pathos  of  being  a  dumb  outcast  in  a  great 
city,  —  indeed,  had  not  Phil  himself  been 
very  much  in  the  same  boat  ?  And  his 
soul,  all  unknowingly,  also  responded  to 
an  exhibition  of  pluck  in  taking  such  a 
sorry  lot  debonnairely :  Phil  was  no  im- 
mune from  the  contagion  of  courage. 

As  trade  slackened  and  the  bunch  of 
papers  melted  away,  he  pondered  the 
proper  action  and  made  wrong  change 
to  his  mortification  several  times,  because 
of  his  absent-mindedness.  The  dog 
showed  not  the  slightest  intention  of  de- 
parture ;  it  was  plain  he  intended  to  stick 
to  this  self-elected  master;  he  was  the 
57 


Three  of  a  Kind 


very  figure  of  constancy  in  action.  When, 
at  last,  the  boy  turned  his  face  toward  the 
lane  that  gave  on  the  old  graveyard,  the 
canine  trotted  obediently  after,  unre- 
pulsed,  without  so  much  as  a  whistle  to 
bring  him  to  heel.  His  carriage  implied 
there  had  been  a  close  relation  between 
the  two  from  time  out  of  mind.  Now 
and  again  he  would  bound  ahead  of  the 
boy,  looking  back  with  the  light  of  an 
expectant  gratitude  in  those  leal  brown 
eyes.  He  seemed  to  rebuke  the  other  for 
his  slow  progress.  When  he  trotted 
more  sedately  just  ahead  of  the  boy  (sat- 
isfied that  the  other  would  follow),  there 
was  something  both  appealing  and  comic 
in  his  gait.  The  forward  movement  of 
a  small  dog  is  for  all  the  world  like  that 
of  a  side-paddle  steamer  going  transverse 
to  the  current. 

Yet  Phil  made  short  work  of  the  mile 
58 


The  Coining  of  Number  Three 

between  him  and  supper.  Not  only  did 
hunger  impel  him,  he  had,  too,  the  addi- 
tional incentive  of  the  surprise  to  the 
master.  Truth  to  tell,  his  query  was  not 
unmingled  with  a  mild  alarm.  He  knew 
Ludovic  liked  animals  of  all  sorts.  Had 
he  not  one  day,  before  Phil's  very  eyes, 
rescued  a  wretched  gutter  cat  from  the 
machinations  of  a  gang  of  urchins  who 
were  striving  to  make  a  practical  dem- 
onstration of  the  proverb  which  de- 
clares that  animal  to  be  possessed  of  nine 
lives :  apparently  meaning  nine  times 
the  usual  chance  for  torture  ?  And  in 
some  of  their  suburban  journeyings  he 
had  noticed  the  old  musician's  gentle 
delight  in  those  merry  little  wights,  the 
birds :  a  joy  which  might  have  reminded 
Phil  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  had  the 
former  been  a  literary  man  instead  of  a 
newsboy  whose  handsome  face  was  not 
59 


Three  of  a  Kind 


always  perfectly  clean,  and  whose  hands 
never  \vere.  Still,  Ludovic  might  not 
take  an  immediate,  violent  fancy  to  the 
little  black  cocker,  which  already,  by  its 
frank  and  affectionate  demeanour,  was 
winning  its  way  into  Phil's  too  fond 
heart. 

But  the  fears  were  groundless.  As  the 
twain  entered  the  living  room,  after  a 
stair-climb  in  which  the  dog  boldly  led 
the  way,  as  if  he,  not  the  boy,  were  mine 
host,  the  animal  rushed  toward  Ludovic, 
seated  in  his  corner,  with  an  assurance 
of  kindly  welcome  no  less  pathetic  than 
sublime.  And  the  musician,  after  the 
first  moment  of  amazement  taking  in  the 
situation  at  once,  made  a  mock  heroic 
gesture  of  despair  and  exclaimed  with  a 
comical  moue :  "  It  is  a  hound,  yes  - 
and  I  am  his  long  lost  father,  eh  ?  And 
thou  art  his  brother,  Phil,  nicht  ?  See, 
60 


The  Coming  of  Number  Three 

he  smells  the  stew.  —  He  must  eat  yet, 
before  he  go  !  " 

But  of  course  he  never  went.  The  two 
comrades  were  an  easy  prey  to  the  blan- 
dishments of  the  third,  who  by  morning  - 
for  it  would  have  been  cruelty  undreamt 
of  to  turn  him  out  that  night  —  had  so 
ingratiated  himself  into  their  affections 
that  they  made  excuses  to  each  other  for 
keeping  him  day  by  day ;  knowing  all  the 
while  in  their  guilty  hearts  that  he 
already  belonged,  as  much  as  they  them- 
selves. Until  finally,  throwing  aside  all 
pretence,  they  shamelessly  organized 
themselves  into  the  trinity  of  the  top 
floor. 

His  name  had  been  a  matter  of  some 
concern.  You  will  have  observed  that 
Dun  was  not  dun-colored.  Nay,  on  the 
contrary,  there  was  theatrical  history  in 
his  cognomen.  Phil,  with  the  delicacy 
61 


Three  of  a  Kind 


of  a  true  gentleman,  waived  the  right  of 
discovery  and  insisted  on  Ludovic  as  the 
proper  baptismal  authority.  Now,  the 
musician  had  once  played  in  an  orchestra 
where  he  had  witnessed  the  performance 
of  the  elder  Sothern  as  Lord  Dundreary, 

-  one  of  the  pleasant  memories  of  the 
older  theater  goers  of  this  land.    He  had 
laughed,  as  have  most  of  us  who  are  past 
forty,  at  the  peculiar  little  skip  which  the 
actor  introduced,  at  first  by  accident  in  a 
rehearsal,  into  the  walk  of  the  funny  fop, 

-  to  the  huge  content  of  his  audience. 
One  day  Ludovic  observed  that  the  dog, 
busily  threading  the  way  in  front  of  them 
on    a    Sunday    outing,    feet    a-twinkle, 
skipped  a  step  with  one  of  his  hind  legs ; 
instantly,     Sothern     flashed     upon     his 
amused    mind;     the    resemblance    threw 
him  into  Jovian  laughter.     So  then  and 
there,  Dundreary  was  the  animal  dubbed. 

62 


The  Coming  of  Number  Three 


And  this,  after  the  immemorial  usage  in 
respect  of  names,  was  reduced  to  Dun,  - 
and  accepted  gratefully  by  all  concerned. 
And  most  kindly  did  Dun,  now  once 
and  for  all  reclaimed  from  the  ranks  of 
the  vagrants,  take  to  his  new  life.  There 
is  in  the  cocker  nature  (as  contrasted 
with  other  breeds)  an  extra  share  of  the 
nomadic  instinct,  the  Wanderlust  of  all 
free  farers  after  joy.  Hence,  dearly  he 
loved  his  days  in  the  street.  Even  when 
masterless  and  unsure  of  his  next  meal, 
he  had  enjoyed  them ;  but  now,  with  fire 
and  food  and  friends  —  another  of  the 
world's  sweet  trinities  —  to  greet  him  at 
the  day's  end,  his  mood  was  beatific. 
What  bliss  unalloyed  to  dodge  vehicles, 
bark  up  alleys,  touch  noses  with  stranger 
dogs,  and  always  follow,  follow,  follow 
after  at  the  beck  of  the  Two>  in  the  ca- 
maraderie of  a  common  zest  for  life. 
63 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Dogs  when  happy  are  perfectly  happy : 
and  even  when  things  go  against  them, 
they  assume  the  best  and  keep  up  a  cheer- 
ful attitude  towards  life :  they  are  the  first 
Christian  Scientists  in  history. 

Two  distinct  duties  were  his :  on  the 
one  hand,  he  would  help  Phil  sell  his 
papers  —  for  within  a  month  he  was  so 
trained  that  he  surprised  and  delighted 
gaping  crowds  of  folks  at  Phil's  corner 
by  his  antics  and  was  a  source  of  much 
revenue  to  the  newsboy.  Or  again,  he 
would  trot  beside  Ludovic  through  the 
residential  avenues,  perch  near  while  the 
musician  played  and,  tin  cup  in  mouth, 
gather  coppers  when  the  music  ceased : 
and  during  its  production,  do  his  full 
share  toward  the  securing  of  orchestral 
effects. 

This  last  statement  is  no  mere  trope  of 
speech,  for  Dun  literally  assisted  the 
64 


The  Coming  of  Number  Three 


musicians  in  their  work;  it  is  quite  ac- 
curate to  describe  him  as  a  musical  dog. 
He  always  co-operated  in  the  perform- 
ance of  the  various  selections.  Seated 
close  beside  Ludovic,  he  would  lift  up  his 
head,  look  languishingly  to  heaven,  and 
emit  sounds  which,  if  they  were  not 
mellifluous,  certainly  implied  emotion 
on  his  part,  and  moreover,  were  fully  as 
efficacious  in  the  bringing  in  of  money, 
thrown  from  the  windows  or  drawn  from 
the  pockets  of  passers-by,  as  were  the 
concerted  efforts  of  the  remaining  mem- 
bers of  the  band.  Even  as  Orpheus 
lured  wild  animals  to  follow  him  by  his 
sweet  pipings,  so  did  this  tame  animal 
lure  human  beings. 

Sometimes,    in    his    excitement,    Dun 
would  rise  from  his  sitting  posture  and 
stand  on  his  hind  legs  —  the  very  atti- 
tude he  was  to  assume  later  in  the  day 
65 


Three  of  a  Kind 


when  a  vendor  of  newspapers  in  the  serv- 
ice of  Phil.  This,  however,  was  when  the 
selection  was  of  a  particularly  sad,  lac- 
rymosal  sort.  For  it  is  to  be  remarked 
that  the  manner  of  Dun's  singing  —  it 
could  be  called  naught  else  —  and  his 
general  deportment,  varied  according  to 
the  style  of  composition.  Yes,  he  seemed 
susceptible  not  only  to  pitch,  intensity 
and  tempo,  but  to  the  more  subjective 
and  subtle  elements  which  have  to  do 
with  harmony,  sentiment,  theme.  A 
brisk  merry  dance  tune,  running  from 
violin  to  flute  like  a  wind  in  a  wheat  field 
(this  street  band  boasted  both  brass  and 
wood  wind  instruments),  would  draw  from 
him  a  succession  of  short,  staccato  yelps, 
as  he  lay  on  his  belly  with  head  erect :  to 
a  mournful,  slow-moving  melody  he 
would  respond  by  long-drawn-out  plain- 
tive whines,  perhaps  with  head  between 
66 


The  Coming  of  Number  Three 


his  paws;  while  the  crashing  close  har- 
monies of  a  composer  like  Wagner  would 
bring  him  in  a  trice  to  his  feet,  tail  and 
head  pointing,  the  whole  body  tense  and 
vibrant,  and  making  noise  enough  to 
rival  the  music  —  almost. 

To  the  uninstructed,  this  might  seem 
like  angry  protest  against  the  music  of 
the  future;  but  Ludovic  knew,  from 
many  private  experiments  at  home,  that 
Dun  was  in  truth  a  firm  adherent  of  the 
Wagnerian  school,  a  creature  not  to  be 
scared  off  even  by  the  extremes  of  a  Rich- 
ard Strauss.  There  is  work  yet  to  do, 
by  the  by,  for  our  laboratory  psycholo- 
gists in  the  study  of  the  musical  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  lower  orders  of  sentient 
beings. 

Six  months  after  Dun's  adoption,  he 
was  as  firmly  lodged  in  the  affections  of 
his  two  friends  as  if  he  had  been  always 
67 


Three  of  a  Kind 


by  their  side.  All  their  plans  and  pleasures 
included  him ;  and  in  return  for  such  feel- 
ing the  dog  gave  them  a  devotion  which, 
this  side  of  heaven,  they  were  unlikely  to 
receive  again.  For  often  in  the  unques- 
tioning fealty  of  those  we  mis-call  brutes, 
is  to  be  found  a  not  unworthy  fore- 
glimpse  of  that  final  love  which,  our  best 
moments  whisper,  shall  pilot  this  blun- 
dering old  world  to  a  safe  haven  at  last: 
that  spirit  in  whose  loving  kindness,  as 
Dante  has  sung  it,  we  are  ever  fain  to 
find  our  peace. 


68 


IV 
SUNDAY   AFIELD 


SUNDAY  AFIELD 


THE  roof-top  trinity  were  wont  to 
go  of  a  Sunday  out  into  one  of 
the    beautiful     suburbs    of     the 
city,  there  to  spend  the  sunshine  hours 
beyond     the     "  man-stifled     town."      In 
May,    when     the     tender    spring    made 
a    magic    of    early    green    on    the    trees 
and  the  revel  of  blossoms  was  near;  in 
the  full  flush  of  midsummer,  regal  with 
71 


Three  of  a  Kind 


her  brilliances  and  blooms ;  or  on  some 
splendid  autumn  day  when  the  sparkling 
air  was  like  a  draught  of  golden  wine  and 
the  country-side  glowed  with  rich  har- 
monies of  reds  and  yellows,  purples  and 
browns,  —  you  might  have  seen  the  three 
friends  fare  forth  from  their  lodging  and 
seek  the  open.  By  railroad  train  they 
went,  or  crowded  trolley,  or,  best  of  all, 
travelled  afoot  after  the  manner  of  those 
who,  above  all  else,  love  the  beck  of  the 
long,  white  road. 

To  Phil  this  week-end  holiday  was  joy 
supreme;  all  healthy-natured  lads  love 
the  freedom  of  the  fields.  Ludovic, 
with  his  poet's  nature,  basked  in  the  wide 
sun-warmed  places  of  God ;  while  as  for 
Dun,  it  was  a  veritable  heaven  he  found 
among  the  reaches  of  park  and  wood  and 
meadow.  One  of  the  finest  things  this 
side  the  grave,  is  to  see  a  dog  enjoy  that 
72 


Sunday  Afield 


"  great  good  place,  outdoors."  His  in- 
fectious exuberance  of  high  spirits  is  a 
winsome  characteristic,  in  perfect  key 
with  his  surroundings.  It  is  really  thrill- 
ing to  behold  a  young  dog  racing  about 
in  sheer  abandon  of  strength  and  heyday 
of  blood,  daring  you  to  a  race,  now  a 
speck  in  the  distance  through  arrow-swift 
flight,  yet  darting  back  to  your  side  as 
sure  as  the  stone  drops  to  earth  or  tides 
lift  to  the  wooing  moon.  His  attitude 
towards  all  things,  as  he  sweeps  along  or 
pauses  panting  for  a  moment  before  re- 
suming his  mad  run,  is  the  very  epitome 
of  that  unspoiled  spontaneous  interest 
in  the  created  universe  which  makes  life 
worth  while.  To  doubt  the  "  joy  of  liv- 
ing "  from  the  dog's  point  of  view,  under 
such  conditions,  were  inconceivable. 
Things  are  good  enough,  he  opines,  and 
he  has  the  immense  common  sense  to 
73 


Three  of  a  Kind 


grasp  all  they  offer  and  not  worry  ahead. 
Ludovic  would  take  his  violin  along  at 
such  times,  not  for  professional  reasons, 
but  for  the  pure  love  of  it.  In  fact,  all 
professionalism  was  banished  on  these 
Sunday  outings,  by  common  consent. 
Phil  might  have  picked  up  many  a  silver 
piece  had  he  chosen  to  sell  papers  or 
exhibit  the  antics  of  the  cocker ;  but  even 
Dun  seemed  to  catch  the  spirit  that  ani- 
mated the  day  and  was  never  the  trick 
dog  —  but  just  a  natural,  happy  quad- 
ruped, with  room  to  run  wild  in  and  a 
whole,  long,  splendid  day  in  which  to 
disport  himself  in  the  open  air.  Happi- 
ness fairly  oozed  from  all  his  body  when, 
in  the  early  Sabbath  morning,  the  weather 
being  fine,  he  recognized  the  usual  prep- 
arations for  an  excursion:  the  living- 
room  hardly  held  his  leaps  and  his  cries 
of  exultation. 

74 


Sunday  Afield 


O  how  the  three  did  enjoy  these  little 
excursions,  even  as  did  thousands  more 
of  the  toilers  of  the  town  !  It  is  sotimemes 
said  that  only  the  city-bred,  the  folk  who 
are  subtle  and  sophisticate,  truly  appre- 
ciate the  beauties  of  nature.  Like  most 
generalizations,  this  is  too  sweeping  and 
therefore  untrustworthy.  It  may  be  true 
that  fanners,  as  a  rule,  care  little  for 
scenery  and  have  a  habit  of  so  building 
their  barn  as  to  obstruct  the  superb. view 
from  the  front  piazza,  —  if  so  be  they 
have  a  piazza  at  all.  And  it  is  undeniable 
that  the  better-class  denizen  of  towns, 
has,  of  late  years,  brought  new  eyes  and 
a  new  value  to  the  country-side.  Never- 
theless, many  humble  folk,  who  make  up 
humanity's  rank  and  file,  love  the  coun- 
try and  in  their  dumb  way  respond  to  the 
manifold  lures  of  it  beyond  city  limits. 
They  cannot  talk  about  it,  to  be  sure,  in 
75 


Three  of  a  Kind 


the  terms  of  art,  or  with  the  finesse  of 
literary  culture :  yet  perhaps  none  the 
less  does  it  nourish  their  spirit  and  is  a 
joy  often  sought,  If  you  are  dubious, 
watch  the  disposition  of  their  time  by  the 
masses  in  a  great  city  on  a  fair-weather 
Sabbath  in  the  right  season.  It  is  more 
than  peep-shows  that  takes  them  thus 
afield,  peopling  the  parks,  surging  to  the 
sea-resorts,  dotting  bits  of  water  with 
their  pleasure  boats  and  roaming  forest 
ways. 

On  this  keen,  brilliant  day  in  late 
October,  of  the  year  following  Phil's 
coming,  they  had  started  bright  and 
early  for  one  of  the  outlying  parks.  It 
was  magic  weather :  all  glitter  and  bronze 
and  gold.  The  smell  of  burning  leaves 
(when  once  you  were  without  the  city) 
was  heavy  in  the  air,  breeding  a  misty 
thought  of  immemorial  camp-fires. 
76 


Sunday  Afield 


Myriads  of  leaves  fell  with  a  crinkly 
sound  curiously  like  the  spurtles  of  a 
wood  fire,  if  you  did  but  listen  more  than 
carelessly  and  had  the  trick  of  remem- 
bering. To  breathe  deep  was  to  taste 
the  primary  joy  of  living. 

In  a  little  black  knapsack  slung  for- 
eign fashion  over  Ludovic's  broad  shoul- 
ders, was  their  luncheon;  Phil  carried 
in  his  pocket  a  small  steel  chain,  which  — 
though  to  do  the  dog  justice,  very  seldom 
-  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  slip 
on  to  Dun's  collar  amidst  the  alien  ex- 
citement of  outdoors.  The  inevitable 
fiddle  case  was  tucked  under  the  musi- 
cian's arm.  They  were  heading  for  a 
quiet  part  of  the  park,  where  was  a  broad 
stretch  of  sward,  tapering  down  to  a 
large  pond  (or  little  lake,  as  esthetes 
preferred  to  call  it),  the  background  set 
in  fine  oak  trees,  now  superb  in  their 
77 


Three  of  a  Kind 


autumn  changes.  The  garish  attrac- 
tions of  merry-go-rounds  and  swan  boats 
were  not  too  near,  and  the  three  had 
chosen  it  for  its  comparative  seclusion. 

Phil  and  the  master  had  ensconced 
themselves  comfortably  under  a  big  tree: 
Dun  came  and  went  as  mood  dictated  and 
external  incitations  too  alluringly  arose: 
a  squirrel  to  be  chased,  a  passing  stran- 
ger to  investigate,  butterflies  to  follow  in 
their  tortuous  aeries,  nuts  dropping  from 
far  above  out  of  mysterious  branches  to 
dodge,  —  or  a  delicious  roll  in  the  still 
green  grass,  belly  up  and  legs  a- wriggle 
in  a  spasm  of  pure  earthly  bliss. 

Ludovic  drew  from  his  pocket  a  little 
book;  the  boy,  leaning  against  the  mot- 
tled bole  of  a  beech,  settled  himself  to 
listen.  It  was  the  violinist's  habit,  on 
these  occasions,  to  translate  out  of  the 
German  in  his  own  way  for  his  com- 
78 


Sunday  Afield 


panion's  benefit  one  of  Grimm's  Mar- 
chen  —  a  style  of  literature  which  he  had 
discovered,  by  accident,  was  most  agree- 
able to  the  lad,  and  one  he  himself  adored. 
After  the  impromptu  English  rendering, 
it  became  Phil's  task  to  give  the  tale  in 
his  own  vernacular.  To  have  used  one  of 
the  excellent  English  translations  of  the 
fairy  tales  already  existing,  Ludovic 
would  have  deemed  next  door  to  sac- 
rilege; most  reverently  did  he  interpret, 
with  the  original  firmly  grasped  in  hand. 
In  this  course  of  popular  education,  they 
had  reached  the  highly  instructional  story 
of  "  Frau  Holle." 

The  copy  from  which  he  read  was 
fitted  to  evoke  the  proper  mood  in  which 
those  greatest  of  all  tellers  of  folk-tales, 
the  Brothers  Grimm,  should  be  enjoyed. 
It  was  a  tiny  volume,  bound  in  yellow 
and  red  boards  and  with  a  highly  colored 
79 


Three  of  a  Kind 


picture  cover  after  the  German  fashion : 
one  looked  at  a  lovely  sylph  with  blue- 
tipped  wings  sitting  beside  a  mystic  Lake 
(fancy  not  using  a  capital!),  behind 
which  rose  beetling  crags,  crowned  with 
a  mediaeval  castle.  Companions  at  her 
side  were  a  swan  which  wore  a  crown, 
and  a  doe  with  a  blue  ribbon  about  its 
neck.  Surrounding  the  group,  a  vign- 
ette of  fairy  creatures,  animal  or  human, 
heightened  the  suggestion  of  the  lore 
within. 

Many  a  year  before,  in  the  fatherland, 
had  Ludovic  acquired  this  book,  and  it 
was  much  thumbed,  its  stories  dimmed 
by  time  and  use ;  but  all  the  more  dearly 
prized :  one  of  those  beloved  pocket  vol- 
umes which  become  more  intimately  a 
part  of  personal  life  than  the  very  clothes 
one  wears. 

And  now  the  old  musician  read  aloud 
80 


Sunday  Afield 

in  his  rich,  sympathetic  voice,  with  its 
tinge  of  another  land:  an  ideal  medium 
through  which  to  convey  the  sentiment 
of  what  he  read,  an  imaginative  handling 
of  child  life.  Perhaps  part  of  the  reason 
why  Ludovic  eschewed  an  English  ver- 
sion in  indoctrinating  Phil  into  the  riches 
of  German  fable,  lay  in  a  secret  pride  in 
his  ability  thus  to  draw  from  the  treasure- 
house  of  his  native  literature,  in  a  manner 
to  enthrall  his  audience  of  two ;  yes,  two, 
since  even  Dun  gave  token  of  attention 
and  ceased  from  troubling,  momently, 
while  Ludovic  translated.  The  cynic 
might  have  declared  he  slept,  but  the 
cynic  is  always  wrong. 

"  This  is  the  story  of  Frau  Holle,  my 
Phil,"  he  began ;  "  listen  how  it  fell. 

"  A  widow  had  two  daughters ;  thereof 
one  was  beautiful  and  industrious,  the 
other  hateful  and  lazy.  But  she  held  the 
81 


Three  of  a  Kind 


hateful,  lazy  one  far  liefer,  since  she  was 
her  true  daughter;  so  the  other  must  all 
the  work  do,  and  be  the  hearth  scrubber 
in  the  haus.  The  poor  maiden  must  sit 
beside  a  well  daily  in  the  great  highway 
and  must  so  much  spin,  that  the  blood 
from  her  finger  fell  down.  Now  it  hap- 
pened, that  the  spindle  was  once  all 
bloody,  so  she  bent  down  to  the  well  and 
would  wash  it  away;  but  it  sprung  out 
of  her  hand  and  fell  down  into  the  water. 
She  wept  and  ran  to  her  stepmother  and 
told  her  the  unluck.  Stepmother  blamed 
her  heartily  and  was  so  —  "  the  trans- 
lator hesitated  —  "so  unpiteous  as  to 
say :  *  If  thou  hast  let  the  spindle  fall 
into  the  water,  go  fetch  it  out  again ! ' 

"  Then  went  the  maiden  to  the  well,  and 

knew  not  what  to  do,  and  in  her  heart's 

anguish  she  leapt  down  into  the  well,  for 

to  fetch  the  spindle.     She  lost  her  senses 

82 


Sunday  Afield 


and  when  she  came  to  herself  again,  she 
was  in  a  beautiful  meadow;  there  shone 
the  sun  and  there  were  many  tausend 
blooms.  On  the  meadow,  back  and 
forth,  went  a  bake-oven  which  was  full 
of  bread ;  and  the  bread  cried  out :  *  ach, 
draw  me  out,  draw  me  out,  otherwise  I 
shall  burn.  I  am  already  for  some  time 
well-baked/ 

"  So  she  took  hold  of  the  bread-spoon 
oder,  that  is,  shovel,  and  fetched  it  all 
out.  Thereafter  went  she  further,  and 
came  to  a  tree,  which  hung  full  of  apples 
and  called  to  her :  '  Ach,  shake  us,  shake 
us,  we  apples  are  altogether  ripe.' 

"  So  she  shook  the  tree,  so  that  the 
apples  fell  as  if  it  rained  apples,  and 
shook  so  long,  until  no  more  were  up 
above.  And  when  she  had  laid  them  to- 
gether in  a  heap,  went  she  further  on  the 
way.  At  the  end,  she  came  to  a  little 
83 


Three  of  a  Kind 


haus,  from  which  beckoned  an  old  lady; 
but  because  she  such  great  teeth  had,  the 
maiden  was  scared  and  wished  to  run 
away.  But  the  old  woman  called  after 
her :  *  Why  fearest  thou  me,  dear  child  ? 
Stay  with  me,  and  if  thou  willst  do  all 
work  in  the  haus  orderly,  then  it  shall 
go  well  with  thee;  only  thou  must  take 
heed  that  thou  makest  my  bed  with  care 
and  givest  it  a  good  shaking  so  that  the 
feathers  fly :  then  snows  it  in  the  world. 
I  am  Mother  Holle.  '  " 

"  What  did  she  mean  ?  "  interrupted 
Phil,  who  had  been  dreamily  flipping  bits 
of  stick  at  Dun,  his  whole  soul  absorbed 
in  the  tale ;  "  could  de  lady  turn  on  and 
off  the  snow,  —  like  you  do  the  water 
faucet  ?  " 

"  She  was  a  sort  of  a  goddess,"  ex- 
plained Ludovic,  slowly;  "  what  dey  call 
a  pagan  deity;  and  she  had  charge  of 
84 


Sundav  Afield 


the  weather  and  crops  and  all  growing 
things,  —  so  the  peasants,  they  loved  her. 
and  wished  friendly  with  her.  Yes.""  the 
musician's  eyes  grew  dark,  and  looked 
far  away  across  the  green  and  gold  of 
the  park,  —  "in  my  native  Hesse  we 
used  to  sav  vet :  *  When  it  snows,  Frau 

•       * 

Holle,  she  makes  her  bed." 

Phil     made    no    reply;     he    seemed 
satisfied. 

"  Because  the  old  woman  spoke  so  kind 
to  her,"  Ludovic  resumed,  with  a  quaver 
in  his  voice,  "  the  maiden  took  heart  and 
agreed  to  enter  into  her  service.  She  did 
all  to  her  mistress'  content,  and  shook 
up  her  bed  so  hard  that  the  feathers  flew 
about  like  snowflakes:  hence  she  lived  a 
pleasant  life  there,  with  no  cross  words 
and  plenty  to  eat  all  day  along. 

"  Now  she  had  been  a  long  while  with 
Frau   Holle  and   then  she  became  sad, 
85 


Three  of  a  Kind 


and  knew  herself  at  first  not  what  ailed 
her ;  but  at  last  she  saw  it  was  Heimweh- — 
das  heisst,  homesickness,"  explained  the 
translator;  "  and  although  it  was  here  a 
thousand  times  better  than  at  home,  yet 
had  she  a  longing  thither.  At  last  she 
said  to  her  mistress :  "  The  home-sorrow 
tortures  me,  and  although  it  goes  so  good 
with  me  here,  yet  can  I  not  longer  stay, 
I  must  go  back  again  to  my  own.'  Frau 
Holle  said : 

'  It  pleases  me  that  thou  desirest  to  go 
home,  and  since  thou  hast  served  rne  so 
true,  I  will  myself  bring  you  up  there. 
So  she  took  her  by  the  hand  and  led  her 
to  a  great  gateway.  The  gate  opened 
and  just  as  she  was  passing  through  there 
fell  a  fierce  rain  of  gold  and  all  the  gold 
remained  hanging  upon  her,  so  that  she 
was  covered  with  it  over  and  over  again. 
'  That  shalt  thou  have,  for  that  thou  hast 
86 


Sunday  Afield 


been  industrious/  cried  Frau  Holle,  and 
also  gave  her  the  spindle  back,  which  had 
fallen  into  the  well.  Then  the  gate  closed 
and  the  maiden  found  herself  above  in 
the  world  again,  not  far  from  her  mother's 
haus." 

"  Stepmother,  you  mean,  ain't  it  ?  " 
asked  Phil;  evidently  he  was  letting 
nothing  escape  him. 

"  Ja,  ja,  but  the  Herren  Grimm,  they 
say  just '  mother  '  here,"  replied  Ludovic ; 
:<  perhaps  she  seemed  like  she  was  her 
own  mother  for  a  minute,  verstehst  du, 
because  the  little  girl  was  so  glad  she  was 
back,  nicht  ?  " 

Once  more  Phil  seemed  satisfied  and 
the  recital  went  on : 

"  And  as  she  came  into  the  yard,  a  cock 
sat  by  the  wall  and  cried : 

'  Cock  -  a  -  doodle  -  do  ! 
Our  girl's  come  back,  all  golden  too ! ' 

87 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Then  she  went  in  to  her  mother  — " 
Phil  let  it  go  this  time  —  "  and  since  she 
was  all  gold  bedecked,  she  was  right  well 
welcomed  by  her,  and  by  her  sister. 

"  The  maiden  told  all  that  had  happed, 
and  when  the  mother  heard  in  what  wise 
she  had  got  great  riches,  she  would  have 
the  other  and  lazy  daughter  fare  in  the 
same  fashion.  She,  too,  must  seat  herself 
by  the  well  and  spin :  and  that  the  spindle 
might  be  bloody,  she  pricked  her  finger 
and  thrust  her  hand  into  the  thorn-hedge. 
Then  she  threw  the  spindle  into  the  well 
and  sprang  in  after  it.  So  she  came,  like 
the  other,  upon  the  beautiful  meadow 
and  went  along  the  self-same  path.  When 
she  fell  in  with  the  bake-oven,  shrieked 
the  bread  again :  '  Ach,  draw  me  out, 
draw  me  out,  or  I  shall  burn,  I  have  been 
so  long  a-baking.'  But  the  lazy  one 
answered,  '  I'm  not  going  to  dirty  myself 
88 


Sunday  Afield 


for  you,  stay  there  till  you  be  black,'  and 
went  on.  Soon  came  she  to  the  apple 
tree,  which  cried  out,  *  O  shake  me, 
shake  me,  we  apples  are  altogether  ripe.' 
But  she  answered :  '  A  nice  way  to  talk, 
you  might  fall  on  my  head,'  and  went 
along.  When  she  came  to  Frau  Holle's 
haus,  she  was  not  afraid;  for  she  had 
heard  about  the  big  teeth  already,  —  and 
so  entered  into  her  service.  The  first  day 
she  worked  hard,  was  industrious,  and 
when  Frau  Holle  told  her  anything,  took 
heed,  for  she  kept  thinking  of  the  gold 
she  would  give  her.  But  on  the  second 
day,  she  began  to  be  lazy,  on  the  third 
still  more  so,  and  next  day,  she  did  not 
want  to  get  up.  She  failed  to  make  her 
mistress'  bed,  which  her  duty  was,  and 
did  not  shake  it  so  that  the  feathers  flew. 
So  Frau  Holle  soon  wearied  of  her  and 
declared  her  service  ended. 
89 


Three  of  a  Kind 


'  The  wench  was  well  pleased  and  be- 
thought her :  '  Now  the  rain  of  gold  will 
begin.'  Mother  Holle  led  her  also  to  the 
gateway  and  when  she  stood  there,  in- 
stead of  the  gold,  a  big  kettle  full  of  pitch 
was  shaken  over  her. 

"  '  That  to  pay  for  your  service  ! '  said 
Frau  Holle  and  banged  to  the  door.  Then 
the  lazy  madchen  came  home  and  was  all 
covered  with  pitch,  and  when  the  cock  by 
the  well  saw  her,  he  cried : 

'  Cock  -  a  -  doodle  -  do  ! 
Our  dirty  daughter  has  come  back  too!' 

and  the  pitch  stayed  on  her,  and  so  long 
as  she  lived,  would  not  off." 

There  was  a  pause  after  Ludovic  fin- 
ished his  translation.  Dun,  I  regret  to 
say,  had  not  shown  the  interest  to  be  ex- 
pected in  the  denouement,  and  his  form, 
dimmed  by  distance,  was  to  be  seen  on 
90 


Sunday  Afield 


the  borders  of  the  lake,  where  he  gam- 
boled with  some  small  children ;  perhaps 
he  had  objected  to  the  too  obvious  moral 
of  the  tale  and  felt  in  his  heart  that  there 
were  others  in  the  world  dirty  besides  the 
Jazy  daughter. 

At  last  the  musician  spoke :  '  Well, 
mein  liebe  Phil !  how  like  you  the 
marchen  ?  " 

Phil  grinned  reflectively. 

"  O,  pretty  good.  I  like  some  of  them 
stories  about  fighting,  and  bears  and 
o-gres  and  robbers  better.  Old  Mammy 
Holle  handed  the  lemon  to  lazy  one  all 
right,  didn't  she  ?  I  wish  somebody 
would  plaster  me  all  over  with  gold  like 
that;  you  bet,  I'd  get  busy,  all  right,  all 
right.  No  more  windy  corners  in  winter 
for  little  Phillie." 

"  Ja  wohl,  thou  rascal  boy,"  said  the 
other  amiably.  "  But  come  now,  speak 
91 


Three  of  a  Kind 


the  story  in  thy  own  words."  He  smiled 
encouragement. 

Phil  puckered  his  brow  a  bit  and  then 
began : 

"  Well,  dere  was  a  widder  woman  what 
had  two  daughters;  one  of  'em  was 
pretty,  all  'right,  but  the  other  nit ;  she 
wouldn't  work  a  little  bit.  But,  you  see, 
she  was  her  own  girl,  so  she  had  the 
widder  woman  dead  to  rights.  T'other 
girl,  the  good  one,  used  to  sit  by  a  well 
and  sew  to  beat  the  band,  and  one  day 
she  pricked  her  finger  and  got  it  bloody 
and  washed  it  off  in  the  water.  But  the 
-  the  spindle  what  she  spieled  with,  dropt 
in,  and  then  the  girl  sprinted  to  the  widder 
and  give  her  an  earful  'bout  how  it  hap- 
pened ;  and  the  mother-in-law  - 

"  Nay,  spitzbubel,  das  heisst  step- 
mother," interpolated  Ludovic. 

"  That's  right,  the  stepmother,"  —  Phil 
92 


Sunday  Afield 


accepted  the  correction  with  due  meek- 
ness —  "  she  was  hot,  and  sent  the  girl 
back  to  dive  for  the  blamed  old  spindle  — 
Huh  !  think  of  all  that  fuss  over  no  thin' !  " 
meditated  Phil. 

"  So  the  nice  daughter  took  a  swim  and 
then,  first  thing  she  knew  she  didn't  know 
nothin';  then  she  woke  up  and  it  was 
a  fine  naedder  —  somethin'  like  this,  all 
flowers  and  the  sun  a-shinin' :  it  might 
have  been  Sunday,  -- 1  dunno.  And 
they  was  baking  bread  —  mighty  queer 
place  for  a  kitchen,  too.  Well,  anyway, 
the  bread  in  the  oven  ups  and  says :  '  Get 
a  move  on  you,  'cos  I'm  burning  up.' 
So  she  takes  it  out.  Then  she  sprinted 
some  more  and  came  to  a  apple  tree  - 
I'd  like  to  take  a  whack  at  that  myself," 
was  Phil's  marginal  comment. 

"  And   says    the    apples,   *  Give   us   a 
shake,  for  we're  pretty  near  rotten.'    So 
93 


Three  of  a  Kind 


she  shakes  'em  all  down  and  piles  'em  up, 
and  then,  her  for  the  race  track  again. 
After  a  while  she  treks  up  to  a  house,  and 
an  old  lady  says  come  here  with  her  hand ; 
but  she  flashed  so  many  store  teeth  that 
the  girl  got  leery  and  was  going  to  do  a 
hundred  yard  dash;  but  the  old  woman 
told  her,  '  Aw,  I'm  all  right ;  you  hire  out 
to  me  and  we'll  get  on  fine;  but  you'll 
have  to  shake  all  the  feathers  out  of  my 
bed,  so  the  folks'll  think  it's  snowing ! 

"  It  would  look  kinder  like  that, 
wouldn't  it,  big  master?"  The  boy 
again  brought  his  latter-day  realistic 
vision  to  bear  upon  the  magic  law  of 
myth. 

"  Ganz  sicker  —  sure,  it  would,"  re- 
sponded his  friend. 

"  Well,  so  they  made  a  deal,  and  the 
girl  made  good.  What  was  her  name  ?  It 
don't  say,  does  it  ?  "  suddenly  queried 
94 


Sunday  Afield 


Phil,  the  thought  striking  him  that  a 
nameless  heroine  was  an  anomaly  in 
fiction. 

"  She  was  just  ein  Madchen,  a  gut  girl, 
like  all  good  girls  are,"  explained  Ludo- 
vic,  with  an  impressive  air  of  wisdom. 

"  Well,  anyway,  she  made  snow-storms 
with  the  bed  and  had  the  time  of  her  life 
eatin'  and  sleepin'  and  standin'  in  with 
the  old  Dame.  Then  after  a  while  she 
took  sick  —  homesick,  they  call  it," 
it  was  a  disease  that  waif  Phil  had  es- 
caped in  his  brief  existence.  "  So  she 
says  to  the  lady :  '  Me  for  mother-in  - 
I  mean  *  stepmother.'  I  should  think 
she'd  rather  have  stayed  with  the  Holley 
lady,"  mused  Phil,  "like  I'd  rather 
stay  with  you  than  do  the  lonesome  act; 
no  use  going  home  to  stepmother;  she 
was  a  kind  of  near-mother,  warri't  she  ? 

"  Anyway,  it  suited  the  old  woman  what 
95 


Three  of  a  Kind 


hired  her  all  right,  so  she  took  her  to  a 
gateway,  and  just  as  she  was  going  through 
the  gold  came  down  and  slathered  her  all 
over.  And  bang  !  the  door  went  and  the 
stage  went  dark,  and  she  was  back  near 
her  mother's,  —  naw,  naw,  her  step- 
mother's house.  And  in  she  goes  into  the 
yard  and  there  was  a  rooster  that  handed 
some  dope  'bout  bein'  glad  she  was  back 
and  her  folks  was  glad  to  see  her  'cos  she 
had  the  boodle.  They  didn't  care  nothin' 
'bout  her  really,  see  ? 

*  Then  she  told  'em  her  story  and  the 
old  girl  was  dead  anxious  to  have  Girlie 
Number  Two  try  the  gold  cure.  So  she 
did  the  well  stunt  and  got  into  the  medder ; 
but  say,  she  wasn't  goin'  to  fool  with 
bread  and  apples;  no  sir;  they  wasn't 
high-life  enough  for  her.  So  she  just  let 
'em  holler.  And  when  she  hired  out  to 
the  Holley  dame,  she  earned  her  salary 
96 


Sunday  Afield 


'bout  two  days  and  a  half,  then  laid  down 
on  her  job.  So  old  Mother  Holley  called 
the  deal  off.  This  was  just  like  findin' 
money  to  Miss  Lazy,  so  she  stood  by  the 
gateway  and  shut  her  eyes  for  to  let  the 
gold  fall  on  her.  Gee  !  but  she  was  the 
limit  for  gall !  But  did  it  fall  ?  I  don't 
think.  Naw !  Somebody  emptied  a  lot 
of  pitch  onto  her,  and  then  she  come 
home  sudden-like;  and  the  rooster  told 
'em  how  the  bad  one  was  back,  and  the 
pitch  is  on  her  yet.  So  that  was  the  end 
of  the  story. 

"  But  I'll  bet  there  was  some  scrappin' 
in  that  house,"  was  the  lad's  postscript. 


97 


V 
DUN    TO    THE   RESCUE 


DUN   TO   THE 
RESCUE 


SUDDENLY    Ludovic   sat   up,    his 
body  tense.     Cries  and  commotion 
from  the  little  lake  that  dimpled  in 
the  distance  beyond  the  superb  sweep  of 
grass,   had   come    to    his    consciousness. 
The    companions    were    startled    out    of 
their   mood    of  pleasure-day  enjoyment. 
Once  and  again  a  sharp  staccato  yelp  split 
101 


Three  of  a  Kind 


the  autumn  air :  Phil  knew  it  at  once.  It 
was  a  friend  talking,  a  friend  who  needed 
help.  Dun  was  in  trouble.  Springing 
to  their  feet,  the  two  rushed  pell-mell 
towards  the  water. 

Already  a  crowd  of  people  were  gath- 
ered from  the  various  pleasances  of  the 
park;  a  burly  blue-coated  officer  dom- 
inated it  and  was  engaged,  as  they  reached 
the  scene,  in  pushing  the  massed  human- 
ity back  from  the  water's  edge.  Another 
officer,  Phil  and  Ludovic  noticed  when 
they  reached  the  bank,  was  strenuously 
oaring  a  small  skiff  out  from  the  shore. 
But  their  eyes  looked  anxiously  beyond 
him,  to  a  tiny  black  dot  that  bobbed  along 
the  ripples  and  made  for  the  bank.  Yes, 
it  was  Dun,  --  Dun  with  something  in 
his  mouth,  which  looked  at  first  glance 
like  a  piece  of  white  rag.  But  a  second 
look,  and  their  hearts  went  a-thumping; 
102 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


it  was  a  bit  of  dress  that  gleamed  white 
and  the  dog  was  manfully  struggling 
against  seemingly  insuperable  odds  to 
bring  it  to  shore,  and  the  child  with  it. 
A  hurried  question  or  two  revealed  the 
whole  situation.  The  child,  a  girl  of  six 
or  eight,  had  been  in  one  of  the  pleasure 
boats  without  her  nurse,  who  had  care- 
lessly strolled  away  to  talk  to  a  friend; 
trig-keeled,  the  craft  had  floated  from 
the  bank  and  overturned,  and  the  little 
one,  far  beyond  her  depth,  had  begun  to 
drown  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectators, 
mostly  women  petrified  with  fear. 

The  dog,  excited  by  her  cries  and 
splashes,  had  dashed  in  after  her,  per- 
haps with  the  instinct  of  play,  possibly  - 
who  knows  ?  —  animated  with  the  divine 
instinct  of  helpfulness.  In  any  case,  in 
he  had  gone  and  was  now  doing  yeoman 
service.  The  child  was  under  water  in 
103 


Three  of  a  Kind 


the  main,  no  doubt  half  drowned ;  but  she 
could  yet  be  saved  if  drawn  out  in  time. 
Certainly  the  animal  could  not  tow  the 
little  body  all  the  distance  in  to  shore; 
but  at  least  he  was  so  far  keeping  it  from 
the  bottom,  —  and  the  policeman  was 
drawing  near  with  swift  oar-strokes. 

Phil  stood  trembling  on  the  bank: 
without  his  being  aware  of  it,  his  hand 
sought  and  found  Ludovic's ;  he  wras 
thinking,  be  it  confessed,  fully  as  much 
of  the  dog  as  of  the  human  tot  whose  life 
was  in  jeopardy. 

"  Good  boy,  Dun.  Come  on,  that's  the 
dog,"  he  called  in  a  rather  uncertain 
voice,  and  interspersed  the  words  with 
the  particular  whistle  of  three  notes  —  a 
long  and  two  short,  like  a  telegrapher's 
code  —  which  was  their  private  shibbo- 
leth. Responsive  to  the  call,  still  more 
frantically  did  Dun  struggle  on;  he 
104 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


would  have  barked,  but,  like  the  crow  in 
the  fable,  to  do  so  would  have  been  to 
drop  his  prey.  Ludovic's  deep  voice 
supplemented  Phil's : 

"  Du  Lieber  Hund,  Come,  mein  little 
Dun.  Kommst  du  jetzt,  ach,  du  bist  ein 
braver  Mann!  " 

All  mortal  crises  are  brief,  and  so  it  was 
here.  Suspense  gave  way  to  relief,  when 
the  policeman  swept  alongside  the  child 
and  dog;  he  drew  the  poor  little  morsel 
of  unconscious  humanity  from  the  lake, 
limp,  sodden  with  water,  safe  into  the 
boat,  and  then  —  to  his  honor  be  it 
spoken  —  drew  the  dog  in  after  her,  ap- 
parently to  the  latter's  high  indignation. 
But  it  was  just  as  well  that  the  kindly 
officer  had  not  left  Dun  to  his  own  de- 
vices in  the  water,  for  when  he  crawled 
on  shore  and,  after  a  convulsive  shake  of 
his  water-logged  body  which  showered 
105 


Three  of  a  Kind 


wet  radiations  upon  the  eager  circle 
surrounding  him  and  broke  it  up  ab- 
ruptly, crouched  at  the  feet  of  his 
masters,  young  and  old,  who  overwhelmed 
him  with  caresses  despite  his  wetness, 
he  could  but  tremble  and  whimper  and 
put  his  belly  close  to  the  ground  in  an 
abject  sort  of  way  that  bespoke  a  sense 
either  of  wrong-doing  or  great  exhaustion 
-  perhaps  both.  That  he  was  a  hero  he 
had  no  comprehension;  Nature  had 
denied  him  that  glow  of  self-righteous 
satisfaction  which  might  come  to  a  hu- 
man who  had  performed  a  like  act. 

Meanwhile,  a  physician,  summoned  by 
a  telephone  message  in  the  pleasure- 
house  near  by,  and  responding  with  mar- 
vellous promptness,  had  arrived,  and 
after  some  fifteen  minutes  rapid,  skilful 
working  over  the  girl,  was  rewarded  by 
her  restoration  to  breath  and  the  color  of 
106 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


life.  After  a  round  scolding  of  the  thor- 
oughly frightened  maid,  he  hustled  his 
charge  off  in  a  closed  carriage,  making 
for  home  and  dry  clothes. 

The  attention  of  the  pleasure-seekers 
was  thus  naturally  centred  on  Dun,  and 
encomiums  upon  his  conduct  flew  thick 
and  fast.  Many  were  the  expressions  of 
surprise  that  so  small  a  fellow  could  ex- 
hibit such  power.  In  truth,  the  cocker 
spaniel  has  a  wiry  strength  that  belies  his 
diminutive  proportions.  He  has  a  record 
in  history  for  deeds  of  bravery  and  en- 
durance that  seem  better  suited  to  breeds 
like  the  Newfoundland  or  St.  Bernard. 
And  although  one  might  sooner  expect 
his  brother,  the  water-spaniel,  to  perform 
aquatic  feats,  yet  all  the  spaniel  varieties 
of  dog  are  likely  to  show  self-sacrificing 
sagacity  by  land  or  water. 

The  big  policeman  seemed  especially 
107 


Three  of  a  Kind 


interested  and  was  careful  to  take  the 
address  of  the  trio  —  as  Ludovic  sup- 
posed, that  he  might  make  the  usual 
report  at  headquarters  of  this  small  inci- 
dent of  the  city's  daily  life.  He  did  not 
realize  what  good  "  copy "  Dun  had 
furnished  the  newspaper  reporters,  and 
was  to  be  instructed  by  the  morning 
journals. 

Brief  are  the  tragic  memories  of  dog- 
kind.  Later  under  the  trees,  while  they 
ate  their  luncheon,  of  which,  you  may  be 
very  sure,  Dun  got  his  full  portion,  he 
was  dry,  full  of  life,  happy;  revelling  in 
the  extra  petting  he  received  and  ready, 
no  doubt,  for  the  humdrum  or  heroic,  as 
either  might  chance  to  come  his  way. 

As   the  shadows   lengthened  over  the 

wide  green  sward,  the  old  musician  was 

making  his  fiddle  sing,  to  the  vast  joy  of 

a    rapidly    assembling    audience    already 

108 


THE    OLD    MUSICIAN    WAS    MAKING    HIS    FIDDLE    SING 

\.Pa</e  108. 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


in  a  most  friendly  mood  toward  the  three, 
because  of  the  spreading  of  the  news  of 
Dun's  water  prowess.  The  opportunity 
for  a  handsome  collection  was  never 
better;  all  the  more  rigidly  did  Ludovic 
stick  to  their  usual  habit  of  art  for  art's 
sake  on  the  Sabbath  —  an  unconscious 
coadjutor  herein  of  the  open  Sunday 
picture-gallery.  Music  for  pure  pleas- 
ure's sake,  in  the  midst  of  fair  outdoor 
scenes,  bringing  gladness  to  the  maker  of 
melody  and  to  all  who  chose  to  hear  - 
this  was  his  ideal.  And  so,  for  an  hour 
or  more,  he  lured  vibrant,  pleading,  pas- 
sionate sounds  out  of  those  few  strings 
which  yet,  in  their  appeal,  cover  all  life 
and  reach  from  the  soul  of  man  to  the 
loftiest  pinnacles  of  heaven. 

It  was  a  telling  scene :   the  noble  oaks, 
beneath   them   the   chequer  of  sun   and 
shade  as  the  afternoon  wore  on  to  dusk, 
109 


Three  of  a  Kind 


and  under  one  splendid  tree  the  pic- 
turesque German,  with  dog  and  boy 
curled  up  on  either  side  of  him,  as  he 
made  his  impromptu  audience  —  the 
chance,  motley  gathering  of  the  moment 
—  a  unit  of  pure  and  innocent  delight 
while  they  listened  to  that  Voice  which 
cometh  from  on  high.  One  woman's 
careworn  hand  surreptitiously  wiped 
away  a  tear  when  he  played  "  Home  Sweet 
Home  "  with  a  lingering  tenderness  that 
plainly  impressed  all;  and  an  elderly 
man,  seemingly  a  laborer  in  his  Sunday 
best,  with  a  empty  sleeve  where  his  right 
arm  should  have  been,  was  moved  to  a 
spontaneous  cheer  when,  after  various 
delicate  and  fanciful  improvisations,  Lu- 
dovic,  who  was  endeavoring  to  please  the 
crowd  rather  than  himself,  swung  into 
the  martial  movement  of  "  Marching 
Through  Georgia." 

110 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


And  it  was  heart-warming,  too,  at  the 
end,  to  hear  them  follow  his  suggestion 
and  sing  "  America  "  in  vociferous  (and  not 
over  tuneful)  unison.  Those  simple  folk 
were  not  cultivated  enough  to  know  that 
patriotism  is  bad  taste.  Such  moments 
are  the  corner-stones  of  our  faith  in 
humanity;  they  point  to  a  future  when 
all  and  every  art  shall  be  truly  democratic, 
coining  from  the  people,  going  back  to 
the  people,  for  the  common  welfare,  the 
common  joy. 

When  they  left  the  park,  it  was  well 
along  towards  twilight.  Ludovic  went 
into  a  little  beer  shop  just  outside  the 
grounds ;  being  thirsty  and  a  Teuton,  he 
was  fain  to  quench  thirst  in  the  natural 
way;  aided  and  abetted  in  the  tendency 
by  the  journals  of  the  city,  which  just 
then  were  full  of  alarms  over  the  state  of 
the  city  water;  diagrams  of  much-mag- 
111 


Three  of  a  Kind 


nified  microbes  spotted  the  Sunday  issues. 
The  saloon  was  beyond  the  city  limits  and 
did  a  thriving  business  on  holidays  and 
holy-days.  Behind  the  bar  was  the  obese 
proprietor,  whose  neck  was  vast  and  red, 
and  who  looked  as  if  he  never  had  a 
thought  above  his  bottles.  He  might  have 
sat  in  stone  on  a  brewery's  walls  in  the 
character  of  Gambrinus,  though  his 
tongue  betrayed  him  as  Hibernian. 

Helping  him  in  his  business  was  his 
wife;  her  fiery  face  and  corpulency  also 
implied  alcoholic  indulgence.  Yet  there 
was  a  pleasant  expression  on  her  broad 
countenance,  with  its  neatly  combed  gray 
hair,  softening  the  whole  effect  of  her 
personality.  Back  of  the  bar  among  the 
decorative  bottles  and  other  fixtures  of 
the  place,  she  had  set  a  large  vase  of 
chrysanthemums;  they  made  a  brilliant 
note  of  outdoors  in  the  dingy,  beetling 
112 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


room,  and  it  was  fine  to  see  with  what 
honest  delight  she  touched  the  splendid 
autumn  blooms  —  daintily,  in  a  way  that 
belied  her  coarse  pudgy  fingers  —  re- 
arranging them,  even  once  bending  down 
her  face  as  if  in  caress,  scentless  though 
they  were.  Her  husband  cast  a  kindly 
look  at  her  as  she  did  this. 

The  woman  noticed  that  Phil's  face 
bespoke  admiration  of  the  vase,  as  the  boy 
waited  while  Ludovic  drained  his  glass ; 
and  taking  a  royal  red  fellow  from  the 
bunch,  offered  it  to  him  with  a  smile  so 
winning  that  it  might  have  been  a 
mother's. 

"  Yez  be  liking  them,  I  see,"  she  said. 
"  Me  darter  got  thim  the  morning,  and  I 
thought  I'd  brighten  up  the  bar  wid  'em 
for  the  sake  of  me  customers.  They're 
purty,  ain't  they,  me  little  man  ?  Sure, 
so  is  me  Eliz'beth,  if  I  do  say  it  as 
113 


Three  of  a  Kind 


shouldn't.  She  is  that  light  on  the  feet 
of  her,  you'd  think  it  was  a  drift  o'  wind. 
Och,  'twas  mesilf  was  light  footed 
onct- 

"  Business,  old  woman,"  quoth  her  hus- 
band, patting  her  not  ungently  on  the 
shoulder  the  while;  several  men  had 
entered  and  both  husband  and  wife  at 
once  bustled  about  to  serve  them. 

Phil  thanked  the  Irish  woman  (whom 
he  had  the  bad  taste  to  refer  to,  in  speak- 
ing to  Ludovic,  as"  the  lady  "),  and  the 
pair  of  friends  went  out  into  the  dusk  and 
gold  of  the  early  evening,  to  wend  their 
way  back  to  the  city.  They  had  had  a 
perfect  day  of  recreation.  Workers  as 
they  were,  this  playtime,  this  breathing 
spell  between  labors,  had  been  relished 
to  the  full.  The  professional  vagabond 
knows  not  their  joy:  he  is  the  hardest 
worked  of  them  all.  It  is  only  the  ama- 
114 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


teur  tramp  who  tastes  the  true  exquisite- 
ness  of  loafing.  It  took  an  inspired 
amateur,  Walt  Whitman,  to  hymn  it. 
Truly,  to  dream  a-field  is  a  wonderful 
consolation  after  the  working  week  of  the 
city. 

Next  morning,  before  either  of  them 
had  left  their  lodging,  came  a  surprise. 
A  ringing  rap  at  the  door  was  followed  by 
the  entrance  of  a  ponderous  policeman,  the 
very  officer  who  had  participated  in  the 
park  scene  of  the  previous  day.  A  vague 
yet  potent  fear  penetrated  the  whole  being 
of  Phil;  he  was  still  too  much  the  street 
gamin  not  to  nurse  an  instinctive  awe  and 
dread  of  these  impersonations  of  the  law ; 
his  conscience  was  clear,  to  be  sure,  but 
the  feeling  is  not  reasonable  so  much  as 
intuitive.  One  might  almost  describe  it 
as  tribal,  atavistic :  it  stands  for  the 
ancient  antagonism  of  the  child  of  nature 
115 


Three  of  a  Kind 


to  the  forces  of  society;  the  fearsome 
representatives  of  law  and  order.  More- 
over, there  had  been  events  in  his  inno- 
cently lawless  past  in  which  bluecoats 
had  figured,  when  he,  along  with  his 
mates  —  technically  known  as  the 
"  avenue  gang  "  -  had  scurried  to  cover 
like  so  many  hares  at  the  approach  of  a 
hound. 

But  not  so  with  Ludovic.  He  greeted 
the  officer  merely  as  a  fellow  human  be- 
ing, offering  him  a  chair  with  the  sweetest 
bonhomie :  he  was  by  far  too  well-bred 
to  let  his  puzzlement  at  the  call  show  on 
the  surface. 

It  was  the  policeman's  way  not  to  beat 
about  the  bush.  Squaring  his  knees  he 
began : 

'  I  come  from  headquarters  to  see  yez 
about  your  dog  —  I  don't  see  him,  at  all, 
at  all,   this  morning  "  —  and  he  looked 
116 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


about  the  room.  The  fact  was,  Dun  had 
been  allowed  to  disport  himself  below 
stairs  with  a  companion  canine  who  had 
recently  come  to  the  house,  further  to 
brighten  Dun's  lot.  Phil's  vague  fear 
deepened  almost  to  panic,  but  Ludovic 
calmly  replied : 

"  Ah,  the  Hund,  yes  ?  He  is  not  here 
about.  But  what  of  him,  mein  friend  ?  " 

'  Well,  you  see,  I  was  telling  the  chief 
about  him  and  showing  him  where  it  said 
in  the  '  Star  '  newspaper  how  he  was  a 
Jim  Dandy,  and  - 

Phil's  fright  vanished  —  he  could  not 
restrain  himself ;  but  broke  in  with : 

;*  Is  it  in  the  newspaper,  honest  ?  " 

"  Sure !     Didn't   ye    see    it  ?  "    replied 

the    officer,    with    genial    expansiveness. 

'  Wid  his  picture  and  scare-heads,  and 

pretty  nigh  a  column  all   to  himself  ?  " 

Phil  gasped;  his  first  impulse  was  to 
117 


Three  of  a  Kind 


dash  from  the  room  to  get  a  copy.  Visions 
of  selling  papers  containing  the  account 
of  Dun's  exploit  filled  his  mind.  But  the 
next  words  froze  him  where  he  stood : 

"  And  the  chief  was  thinkin'  as  you 
might  like  to  sell  the  animal,  —  let  us 
make  a  dog-policeman  out  of  him,  do 
ye  see  ?  " 

"A  —  a  policemans  of  Dun  aus  ?  " 
stammered  the  old  musician. 

"Gee,  I  never  heard  of  anything  like 
that !  "  added  Phil  breathlessly. 

"  Why,  that's  all  right,"  went  on  the 
officer,  evidently  enjoying  the  sensation 
he  had  created.  "  We're  thinkin'  of 
puttin'  a  squad  of  dog  police  in  the  parks, 
so  as  to  save  folks  from  drownin' ;  and 
sure,  your  pup  would  be  one  of  the  best 
in  the  bunch.  He'd  be  captain  of  the 
force,  I  dunno,  after  a  bit."  And  a  loud 
guffaw  made  the  rafters  vibrate.  "  We 
118 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


could  give  yez  twenty-five  dollars,  if  —  " 
Ludovic  and  Phil  had  been  communi- 
cating telepathically  as  well  as  by  eye  talk. 
"  Nay,  mein  friend,  not  so,"  now  spoke 
up  the  former.  "  We  could  not,  what 
you  call,  spare  Dun,  de  little  doggie,  we, 
—  he  is  a  friend  like  by  us,  we  are  so  — 
so  used  mit  him,  kennst  du.  Hey,  Phil  ?  " 
He  looked  rather  helplessly  towards  his 
fellow  lodger;  there  had  been  a  suspi- 
cious quaver  in  his  voice;  and,  as  ever 
when  his  feelings  were  much  implicated, 
his  English  idioms  had  suffered. 

Phil  tried  hard  to  speak ;  he  too  seemed 
to  be  having  trouble  with  a  lump  in  his 
throat,  but  after  swallowing  rapidly  sev- 
eral times,  managed  to  articulate : 

'  You  bet  your  life  we  don't  sell  Dun." 
Suddenly   a  woful   thought   smote    him: 
'  You  —  you  don't  mean  they'll  take  him 
away  from  us,  do  you,  Mr.  Peeler  ?  " 
119 


Three  of  a  Kind 


The  sentence  tumbled  out  before  he 
realized  his  manner  of  address;  then, 
perceiving  that  'it  might  not  please  the 
visitor,  he  promptly  turned  a  rich  turkey 
red. 

"  Bliss  ye,  no,"  said  the  officer,  with  a 
kind  of  bibulous  chuckle,  as  he  rose.  "  I 
was  only  thinking  you  might  be  glad  to 
get  the  money."  His  eyes  roamed  un- 
wittingly over  the  apartment,  as  if  to  take 
stock  of  its  quality  and  appraise  its  mar- 
ket value. 

"  If  you  don't  want  to  part  with  — 
what's  his  name  ?  Dun  —  why,  it's  up  to 
yez.  Nor  I  can't  blame  ye;  sure  it's 
mesilf ,  Michael  Hogarty,  that  loves  dogs : 
haven't  I  got  a  nice  little  bull-dog  in  me 
flat  and  he  can  take  the  natest  bite  out  of 
a  burglar's  breeches  of  any  animal  on 
the  block.  Me  old  woman,  she  says  - 

Just  what  the  "  old  woman  "  said  was 
120 


Dun  to  the  Rescue 


never  revealed:  there  came  a  scratch- 
ing sound  outside  the  door.  Phil  opened 
it :  and  in  bounded  Dun,  brimfull  of  the 
milk  of  human  kindness :  then  stopped 
short,  nonplussed  by  the  stranger  within 
the  gates.  But  in  a  moment,  his  tail 
almost  wagged  his  body  at  the  ingratia- 
ting advances  of  the  policeman,  who  said 
a  hearty  good-by  to  the  three.  His  last 
words  were : 

"  Let  us  know,  if  ye  plaze,  whin  yez 
change  your  mind:  we  can  use  a  smart 
little  man  like  that  dog  is,  any  time.  He'd 
head  the  procession,  I'm  telling  ye,  and 
that's  no  lie." 

And  One  of  the  Finest  left  them  and 
their  big  sense  of  relief  together.  Then 
it  was  a  sight  worth  seeing:  Phil  op  his 
knees  hugging  the  breath  out  of  his  four- 
footed  friend,  with  Ludovic,  a  benevo- 
lent deus  ex  machina,  interpolating  a 
121 


Three  of  a  Kind 


caress  as  he  was  able.  It  was  a  happy 
Monday  for  Dun,  because  of  the  extra 
affection  lavished  upon  him  by  his  home 
people. 


122 


T 


LUCK   CHANGES 


iHOU  liar,  Du  Pechvogel,  shame 
on  thee  for  such  slander- 
talk  !  " 

The  words  rang  out  so  resonantly  clear, 
that  persons  sitting  in  the  front  seats  of 
the  theatre  during  the  entr'acte  heard  it 
and  opened  their  eyes  to  what  seemed  a 
"  situation  "  not  indicated  in  the  play- 
125 


Three  of  a  Kind 


bill.  It  was  a  gray-headed  violinist  who 
was  speaking,  half  rising  from  his  seat  as 
he  did  so;  and  apparently  he  addressed 
the  leader  of  the  orchestra,  who,  very  red 
and  wrathy,  replied  in  a  louder  tone  and 
tapped  his  baton  as  signal  for  the  next 
selection.  The  violinist  sank  back  into 
his  seat  with  a  blanched  and  rigid  face 
and  resumed  his  duty. 

The  train  of  events  leading  to  this  ex- 
plosion was  simple  in  its  logic.  The 
"  turn  "  which  had  just  held  the  stage 
had  been  given  by  a  very  beautiful  girl 
whose  presence  and  performance  lifted 
the  entertainment  to  a  higher  plane  than 
was  its  wont.  Night  after  night  she 
stood  in  the  wings,  her  mother  beside 
her,  waiting  her  call  before  the  foot- 
lights; night  after  night,  her  songs  over, 
mother  and  daughter  departed  in  a  cab 
for  their  comfortable  home,  —  a  home 
126 


Luck  Changes 

only  possible  through  the  daughter's  work. 
She  seemed  an  alien  note  in  such  an  at- 
mosphere and  indeed  but  a  few  years 
later  was  to  take  her  place  among  the 
great  artists  of  the  legitimate  drama. 
And  even  now,  she  often  held  the  rough- 
est, most  careless  element  of  her  audiences 
spell-bound  by  the  freshness,  the  sweet- 
ness and  purity  of  her  rendition  of  some 
familiar  ballad  like  "  Annie  Laurie  "  or 
"  The  Last  Rose  of  Summer."  Coming 
as  her  work  did,  in  a  setting  of  coarse 
humor,  miscellaneous  horse-play  and  rag- 
time music,  it  was  like  a  puff  of  hale  west 
wind  in  a  malodorous  place. 

The    orchestra    conductor,    beefy    and 

gross,  with  ridges  of  flesh  under  his  eyes, 

-  a  type  of  that  coarse  animal  who  by  a 

mysterious  Providence  is  not  infrequently 

dowered  with  a  certain  musical  gift  along 

with    his    dominant    porcine    tendencies, 

127 


Three  of  a  Kind 


had  besoiled  her,  and  himself,  by  a  remark 
which  stung  Ludovic  like  the  bite  of  a 
noxious  insect.  He  had  been  touched 
and  pleased  by  the  way  the  young  woman 
had  sung  an  old-English  ballad,  "  Jean- 
ette  and  Jeannot,"  -  seldom  heard  now- 
adays, but  very  appealing  and  lovely; 
she  seemed  in  personality  fitted  for  the 
simple,  soulful  sentiment  of  the  piece. 
Then  came  the  low  slur  —  the  slur  so 
often  ignorantly,  cruelly  flung  out  to  take 
its  slimy  way  in  the  world  with  perhaps  no 
slightest  foundation  of  fact ;  the  slur  stage 
folk  have  to  endure  as  a  painful  penalty 
of  their  profession. 

And  Ludovic  had  boiled  over  and 
hurled  words  at  the  leader,  unforgivable, 
he  knew,  to  such  a  man.  Selfishly  viewed, 
his  speech  had  been  rash,  foolish:  the 
girl  was  naught  to  him,  —  moreover,  he 
had  helped  her  no  whit  by  his  impulsive 
128 


Luck  Changes 

defence.  But  the  musician  lacked  prac- 
ticality and  suffered  the  handicap  of  be- 
ing by  instinct  a  gentleman.  All  innocent 
womanhood  had  been  smirched  by  the 
innuendo:  and  by  the  memory  of  Hilda, 
of  whose  name  this  young  singer's  re- 
minded him,  he  would  not,  could  not, 
endure  it. 

"  She,  she  is  pure  and  good,"  he  cried, 
"  look  at  her  face ;  and  thou,  thou  art  a 
pig  of  the  sty  !  " 

And  a  spontaneous  though  quickly 
suppressed  murmur  of  approval  had  rip- 
pled through  the  rest  of  the  orchestral 
group,  for  their  leader  was  no  favorite 
with  his  men,  and  Ludovic  was :  his  old- 
fashioned  courtliness  and  kindly  attitude 
toward  one  and  all  having  long  since  won 
their  liking. 

What  followed  was  only  what  his  fear 
foretold.  His  superior  could  not  be  ex- 
129 


Three  of  a  Kind 


pec  ted  to  tolerate  the  humiliation  to  which 
he  had  been  exposed,  in  the  face  of  his 
associates. 

"  Go  to  the  box  office  and  get  your 
week's  pay;  you're  through  here,"  was 
all  he  vouchsafed  at  the  end  of  the  eve- 
ning's performance.  And  Ludovic  bowed 
his  head  and  received  his  sentence  with- 
out a  word  in  reply.  It  was  as  balm  to 
his  spirit,  to  have  thrust  into  his  hand,  as 
he  was  leaving  by  the  stage  door  after 
simdry  wTarrn  handclasps  from  different 
members  of  the  orchestra,  a  crumpled 
little  note  which  Miss  Cameron  had 
hastily  scribbled  in  her  dressing-room : 


"  DEAR  MR.  LUDOVIC  "  (it  ran)  : 

"It  was   so  good   of  you, --I  heard 
about  it  and  am  so  grieved  that  it  has  got 
you  into  trouble.    If  I  can  do  anything  in 
130 


Luck  Changes 

the  world  to  help  at  any  time,  do  let  me 
know. 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  HULDA." 

Hulda !  —  her  name  was  so  like  his 
own  Hilda's !  Perhaps  that  was  the  un- 
conscious reason  he  had  been  led  to  take 
her  part.  It  was  a  mere  coincidence,  of 
course,  that  this  sweet  girl  should  have 
borne  a  name  similar  to  that  of  one  sacred 
in  his  memory ;  but  all  the  same  he  kissed 
the  note  surreptitiously  with  double  fer- 
vor, as  he  went  out  into  the  vague  night 
—  for  the  last  time. 

An  hour  later,  he  sat  in  his  worn  arm- 
chair, his  long  dressing-gown  wrapping 
his  lank  frame,  the  pipe  of  peace  com- 
fortably alight.  Phil  was  out  for  the 
evening,  for  the  purpose  of  attending  an 
131 


Three  of  a  Kind 


important  meeting  of  the  Newsboys'  Pro- 
tective Association ;  even  newsboys  pro- 
tect themselves  as  instinctively  nowadays 
against  the  tyranny  of  capital,  as  did  the 
barons  in  the  middle  ages  against  the 
power  of  the  king.  The  session  evi- 
dently had  been  a  protracted  one,  since 
it  was  well  past  midnight.  Dun,  for  the 
nonce,  was  too  overpowered  by  sleep  on 
his  scrap  of  carpet  in  the  corner  to  make 
his  usual  claim  to  a  place  in  the  musician's 
lap.  But  Ludovic  hardly  heeded  the  lad's 
absence;  his  thoughts  were  deep  in  the 
past. 

On  his  knees  he  held  a  curious  old  box 
of  German  manufacture  which  he  re- 
garded lovingly,  meditatively,  sadly,  yet 
with  absent  eyes.  Many  years  ago  had 
he  purchased  it,  pleased  with  its  foreign 
make:  he  loved  the  polish  of  its  cedar 
frame,  inlaid  with  ivory  and  brass  studded ; 
132 


Luck  Changes 

the  skilful  jointure  of  its  parts  in  lieu  of 
the  horrid  modern  habit  of  nails,  nails 
everywhere;  the  deft  divisions  within, 
soft  cushioned  and  giving  out  a  faint 
sweet  scent,  like  the  storied  wood  of 
Lebanon.  Ludovic  had  hardly  examined 
the  compartments  with  care,  so  many 
were  they,  each  with  its  inviting  corner 
for  hidden  treasure.  Stray  bits  of  manu- 
script music,  theme  sketches  of  his  own 
creation,  he  had  laid  away  in  it  from  time 
to  time;  but  for  the  most  part,  it  was  a 
possession  not  so  much  utilitarian  as 
sesthetic ;  a  thing  of  beauty  and  so  its  own 
excuse  for  being.  And  it  was  asso- 
ciated —  and  hence  doubly  dear  —  with 
the  irrecoverable  past,  when  the  hope  of 
Hilda  was  still  hot  in  his  heart,  —  Hilda, 
poor  child,  lost  angel  of  his  youth  ! 

The  old  musician's  thoughts  went  back 
to  the  very  day,  when,  after  some  chaf- 
133 


Three  of  a  Kind 


fering  with  the  honest  German  hausfrau 
who  had  owned  the  box,  he  had  carried 
it  away  in  triumph  to  his  lodging.  It  had 
belonged,  so  she  had  said,  to  a  pretty 
fraulein  who  had  died  a  year  or  two  be- 
fore and  left  it  to  her,  its  present  owner; 
the  description  she  gave  of  the  girl,  alone 
and  lonesome  in  a  strange  land,  had  re- 
called Hilda  and  made  the  box,  very 
likely  an  heirloom  in  the  maiden's  family, 
seem  all  the  more  precious ;  it  was  almost 
like  a  link  between  him  and  the  lost 
Geliebte. 

And  now,  heart-heavy,  Ludovic  was 
considering  the  advisability  of  selling  this 
bit  of  property.  He  felt  sure  it  had  value 
for  its  rare  workmanship  and  unusual 
design,  especially  in  these  latter  days  of 
keen  appreciation  of  the  older  and  better 
art  ideals.  More  than  once  he  had  been 
offered  sums  for  it  that  seemed  fabulous 
134 


Luck  Changes 

when  set  beside  what  he  had  paid  for  it. 
But  he  had  never  considered  parting  with 
it,  though  occasionally  tempted  to  do  so, 
in  order  that  the  money  might  go  toward 
a  much  coveted  violin  to  add  to  his  col- 
lection. Still  he  had  resisted ;  something 
in  him  had  shrunk  from  the  idea  of  pawn- 
ing his  treasure :  in  his  simple,  frugal  life 
it  had  not  hitherto  been  necessary  to  take 
such  a  step;  and  now  his  pride  revolted. 
Yet  —  he  was  now  reflecting  —  it  might 
be  the  best  thing  to  do,  after  all.  For  the 
time  had  come  when  money  would  be 
needed.  His  main  source  of  income  had 
been  ruthlessly  cut  off ;  it  was  the  thresh- 
old of  winter  and  not  until  spring  could 
he  hope  to  cover  his  loss  partially  by 
steady  work  as  an  itinerant  street 
musician.  Odd  jobs  might  be  picked  up, 
here  and  there,  during  the  winter  season 
-  a  dance  here,  a  reception  there  —  but 
135 


Three  of  a  Kind 


nothing  could  be  counted  on.  His  little 
hoard  of  savings  had  of  late  been  sadly 
depleted  by  the  purchase  —  an  extrav- 
agance irresistible  —  of  a  curious  old 
seventeenth  century  fiddle,  which  he  sus- 
pected to  be  a  Guarnerius,  and  which 
he  had  acquired  dirt  cheap. 

Yes,  the  outlook  was  rather  grave.  He 
was  too  easy-going  in  temperament  to 
save  much,  at  the  best,  out  of  his  earn- 
ings. With  the  theater  engagement,  he 
lived  in  homely  comfort,  little  more; 
without  it,  even  with  such  help  as  Phil 
might  bring,  it  would  be  but  the  scantiest 
of  livings  for  them  both.  It  was  a  point  of 
pride  with  Ludovic  not  to  touch  a  penny 
of  the  newsboy's  little  hoard,  which,  to 
his  young  eyes,  was  already  like  Pelion 
piled  on  Ossa  for  colossal  proportions. 

And  so  Ludovic  sat  there;  fondly 
handled  the  old  box,  and  dreamt  an  old 
136 


Luck  Changes 


dream  with  a  bitter  taste  to  it  of  the  pres- 
ent, —  that  present  which,  in  one  guise 
or  another,  tyrannously  grasps  us  all  and 
bears  us  from  our  beloved  idols  of  hope 
or  joy  or  memory. 

And  now  befell  one  of  those  odd 
chances  which  Life,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
has  the  habit  of  dealing  out  with  a  prodi- 
gal hand ;  albeit  Art  is  somewhat  chary 
of  reporting  her;  truth  being  so  much 
stranger  than  fiction,  that  the  artist,  seek- 
ing the  seeming-true  rather  than  reality, 
selects  a  few  symbols  out  of  the  generous 
offerings  of  daily  experience  to  stand  for 
the  whole.  Half  unconsciously,  Ludo- 
vic's  fingers  strayed  in  one  corner  of  the 
box,  picking  at  the  cushion  which  lined 
its  fragrant  wood ;  with  unseeing  eyes  he 
pulled  it  aside ;  an  old  yellowing  piece  of 
paper,  hitherto  quite  overlooked,  lay  be- 
neath it ;  beside  the  paper  lay  an  old  coin, 
137 


Three  of  a  Kind 


one  of  the  Hessian  groschen  of  the  musi- 
cian's youth.  How  often,  with  such  a 
money  piece  tightly  clutched  in  his 
chubby  hand,  had  he  trotted  to  the  sweet- 
meat shop  in  Cassel,  for  the  coveted 
sugar  stick  which  it  took  the  delicious 
suckings  of  half  a  day  materially  to  di- 
minish in  size  !  Aware  at  last  of  his  find, 
he  lifted  the  paper  from  its  long  hidden 
nest,  spread  it  out  upon  his  lap  and  began 
to  decipher  the  faded  words  written  in 
his  own  German  speech.  And  lo !  in  a 
trice,  twenty  years  and  more  rolled  away, 
and  a  vibrant  pleading  voice  out  of  the 
Past,  out  of  the  very  grave,  sounded  in  his 
ears,  whose  throb-throb  seemed  a  sort  of 
mournful  accompaniment : 

"  MY  LUDOVIC  : 

"  You  will  never  see  this,  but  I  shall 
write  to  you  to  ease  my  heart.     O,  my 
138 


Luck  Changes 

betrothed  one !  I  waited,  waited  in  the 
fatherland  for  a  word,  and  no  word  ever 
came.  Then  Hans  made  love  to  me  - 
and  I  said  No.  But  he  tried  ever,  and  you 
did  not  send  me  word ;  and  O,  Ludovic, 
I  yielded,  —  yielded  all,  for  he  promised 
marriage,  and  he  seemed  good.  Then, 
in  shame,  with  my  unborn  child  in  my 
bosom,  I  came  to  America,  —  not  seeking 
you,  but  to  hide  me  away.  And  now  I 
am  dying ;  and  that  is  all  —  except  this : 
I  learned  when  it  was  too  late  that  you 
had  sent  for  me.  Hans  kept  the  letter 
from  me ;  so  I  hate  him ;  my  mother-milk 
turned  to  poison  in  my  two  breasts.  O, 
Ludovic,  forgive  me  and  love  my  memory 
if  you  can.  For  I  would  have  been  faith- 
ful, yes.  And  the  little  boy  babe,  here 
beside  me,  what  will  become  of  him  ?  I 
wish  he  had  your  eyes.  Would  to  God  he 
could  find  you ;  for  his  own  father,  he  is 
139 


Three  of  a   Kind 


bad ;  then  he  would  have  a  friend  for  my 
sake.  So  now  no  more.  Good-by !  dear, 
dear  Ludovic,  and  forgive 

'*  Your  unhappy 

"  HILDA." 

A    deep   groan    came    with    a    sudden 
startling  distinctness  out  of  the  dim  mid- 

O 

night  room,  where  the  embers  of  the  fire 
that  the  old  musician  had  stirred  into 
fitful  life,  made  eerie  Bickerings  upon  the 
wainscoted  walls.  That  was  the  only 
sound  for  a  long,  long  while.  The  mas- 
ter's head  drooped  over  the  yellow  sheet 
in  his  uncertain  hand.  Now  at  last  he 
knew :  Hilda,  his  poor  beloved,  the  sport 
of  an  unkind  fate,  was  dead.  And  she 
loved  him  and  he  knew  it  not ! 

Never  a  thought  of  blame  crossed  his 
mind.    The  imperative  judgments  of  the 
human  heart  in  such  cases  brush  aside 
140 


Luck  Changes 

the  superficial  aspects  of  convention  and 
go  straight  to  the  root  of  the  matter. 
Hilda  had  loved,  been  deceived,  —  and 
was  dead !  That  was  all,  that  was  quite 
enough :  Sie  hatte  geliebt  und  yelebt  und 
sie  war  todt.  There  was  strangely  little 
bitterness  in  his  mood,  as  he  mused  sa- 
credly through  the  midnight  hour.  She 
was  at  rest,  and  the  knowledge  that  she 
had  been  true-hearted,  that  she  was  the 
creature  of  untoward  circumstances,  noth- 
ing more,  had  its  ineffable  consolation. 
Before,  there  was  a  dreadful  uncer- 
tainty, a  torturing  doubt;  perhaps  she 
had  been  light,  inconstant.  Now,  he 
knew  the  worst  —  and  the  best.  Here- 
after, Hilda's  image  would  have  a  per- 
manent tender  shrine  in  the  secret  places 
of  his  spirit. 

And  the  child,  the  boy  ?    The  thought 
came  almost  like  the  impact  of  a  bullet 
141 


Three  of  a  Kind 


on  his  consciousness.  What  had  become 
of  Hilda's  little  one  ?  She  must  have 
lodged  at  the  house  of  the  woman  from 
whom  he  had  purchased  the  box  —  now 
a  temple  in  which  had  been  so  long  hidden 
a  precious  relic.  But  alas  !  the  Hausfrau 
had  married  and  returned  to  Germany 
many  many  years  since.  He  had  no  idea 
where  she  lived.  The  chance  of  finding 
the  child,  though  desperate  indeed,  lent  a 
new  meaning  to  his  life.  Slowly  he  raised 
the  old  letter  to  his  tremulous  lips ;  inar- 
ticulately he  registered  a  vow  to  seek, 
seek  ever  for  the  boy  who  was  hers  but 
not  his ;  who  should  be  his  for  her  dear 
sake,  if  ever  he  could  be  found  this  side 
the  grave ! 

Again,  he  half  started  to  his  feet,  under 

the    impetus    of    thought:     thinking    of 

Hilda's  wee  lad,  he  remembered,  by  some 

thread  of  connection,  his  own  Phil ;  where 

142 


Luck  Changes 

was  he,  and  the  hour  nigh  to  one  o'clock  ? 
A  fear  fell  on  the  musician,  as  he  realized 
how  abnormal  it  was  that  the  newsboy 
should  not  have  come  home  before. 

As  if  in  answer  to  the  unspoken  query, 
came  the  noise  of  feet  ascending  the 
stairs :  tramp,  tramp,  tramp  they  sounded, 
with  an  omen  in  the  echo.  He  knew  in- 
stantly that  it  was  not  Phil's  step :  it  was 
the  tread  of  a  number  of  persons,  rever- 
berating, unnaturally  loud  in  the  stillness 
of  the  night.  Unconsciously  Ludovic's 
nerves  stiffened,  quivering  to  a  presenti- 
ment of  evil;  then  a  knock  on  the  door, 
and  the  sad  procession  entered :  three 
men,  a  doctor  in  the  van,  and  two  others 
carrying  between  them  the  little  fellow 
who  had  wound  himself  about  the  musi- 
cian's heart.  With  a  great  cry,  the  Ger- 
man threw  himself  upon  his  knees  beside 
the  body : 

143 


Three  of  a  Kind 


"  Mein  Phil,  du  Hebe  Kind,  ach,  he 
is  not  dead  ?  Nay,  so  is  it  not  ?  "  and 
it  took  a  wan  smile  from  Phil  and  the 
assurance  of  the  others  as  they  rapidly 
installed  the  boy  upon  the  old  lounge  and 
began  to  work  over  a  limp  right  leg,  to 
restore  Ludovic  to  comparative  calm. 
In  all  the  processes  of  dressing  the  wound 
and  making  the  patient  comfortable,  Dun 
was  greatly  in  evidence,  keyed  up  to  such 
a  pitch  of  suppressed  excitement  that  the 
room  hardly  held  him;  betokening  in  a 
dozen  ways  his  impotent  desire  to  be 
useful. 

It  was  a  street  accident,  they  told  him. 
A  fire  engine  had  turned  a  corner  and  the 
slew  of  the  machine  to  the  gutter  had 
pinned  the  boy  in  such  a  way  that  the 
bones  in  his  right  foot  had  been  badly 
crushed.  It  would  not  be  permanently 
serious,  they  decided  in  a  few  minutes  of 
144 


Luck  Changes 

skilful  examination,   but  Phil  would  be 
laid  up  for  some  weeks. 

An  hour  later,  when  the  night  was  be- 
ginning to  pale  towards  dawn,  he  was 
resting  quietly  in  the  little  bedroom  and 
there  was  a  smell  of  anesthetics  in  the  air ; 
Ludovic,  as  assistant,  was  humbly  obey- 
ing the  orders  of  an  unobtrusive  but 
highly  efficient  young  woman.  It  had 
been  deemed  wise  to  have  a  professional 
nurse  for  a  night  or  so,  and  through  the 
day  when  Ludovic  must  be  absent.  The 
musician  could  not  sleep  that  night,  or 
rather  during  the  remnant  that  was  left; 
he  had  much  to  think  of,  out  of  bygone 
times,  much  to  plan  for  the  future,  and 
much  to  engross  him  in  the  living  present. 
Anyway,  he  murmured  with  a  full  heart, 
his  dear  Phil  was  not  killed;  and  Hilda, 
Hilda  was  with  God,  and  her  boy,  maybe 
he  would  be  found.  And  yet  how  hope- 
145 


Three  of  a  Kind 


less,  how  absurd  even  to  dream  of  such  a 
thing !  As  well  expect  to  identify  a  grain 
of  sand  on  the  seashore,  —  a  tiny  grain 
long  since  washed  away  by  the  clamorous 
inrush  of  innumerable  waves. 

Then  his  thoughts  came  back  with  a 
surge  of  tenderness  to  the  young  sufferer 
in  the  next  room,  who  now  and  then 
moaned  a  little  as  he  shifted  his  position. 
Yes,  duties  wTere  laid  upon  him  both  of 
the  head  and  the  heart.  He  was  out  of 
work  and  there  were  two  mouths  to  feed. 
His  hand  fell  thoughtfully  upon  the  sleek, 
ebon  fur  of  Dun,  whose  sympathetic 
whine  testified  as  plainly  as  any  words 
that  the  faithful  dog  knew  that  things  had 
gone  wrong  with  his  comrades,  and  was 
fain  to  help  them,  although  he  had 

'  No  language  but  a  cry." 


146 


VII 
THE    WOLF    AND    THE    DOG 


THE    WOLF  AND 
THE  DOG 


AND    now  came  the  days  of   the 
wolf    at     the     door,  —  and    the 
dog    inside    the    door    to    fright 
him     away !     For     Dun     proved     him- 
self   worth    his    weight    in    gold    when 
trouble  visited  the  three.     He  developed 
unheard-of    activities    and  intelligences. 
He  would  fetch  and  carry  for  Phil,  as  the 
149 


Three  of  a  Kind 


invalid  lay  in  bed  and  whiled  away  the 
hours  with  the  illustrated  papers  or  in 
counting  his  bank  money.  As  a  con- 
cession to  the  peculiar  situation,  it  was 
decided  between  the  two  —  I  had  al- 
most said  three,  including  Dun  in  the 
family  councils,  —  that  there  would  be 
nothing  undignified  in  unlocking  the 
little  strong-box,  in  order  that  the  hoarded 
savings  might  be  seen  and  handled :  to 
tell  over  his  accumulations,  re-arranging, 
estimating  their  purchasing  power,  plan- 
ning possible  expenditures,  all  this  made 
the  boy's  time  far  less  wearisome  than  it 
would  otherwise  have  been. 

Phil  was  at  great  pains  to  instruct  the 
cocker  in  the  mysteries  of  the  denomi- 
nations :  to  discriminate  between  nickels, 
dimes,  quarters,  half-dollars  and  dollars. 
By  the  most  patient  lessons,  he  brought 
Dun  to  the  point  where,  with  a  scornful 
150 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


sniff  at  the  lesser  coins,  he  would  gleefully 
nose  out  from  the  pile  and  seek  to  take 
into  his  mouth  (not,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, with  complete  success)  the  large 
silver  pieces.  One  of  the  reasons  you 
have  perhaps  never  seen  a  dog  able  to 
exhibit  this  form  of  intelligence,  is  just 
because  you  never  tried  to  teach  him,  as 
did  our  friend  Phil;  chosen  members  of 
the  canine  community  can  do  wonders  as 
can  chosen  members  of  the  human  race  - 
if  only  you  give  them  attention  and  en- 
couragement enough.  There  was  no 
mistaking  the  triumph  in  Dun's  de- 
meanor when,  from  a  high  pile  of  money, 
he  abstracted  a  big  shining  silver  dollar; 
his  bark  had  in  it  all  the  unworldly  exulta- 
tion of  the  explorer  who  attains  to  a  new 
land ;  it  was  not  the  joy  of  possession, 
fierce,  personal;  but  rather  the  subtler, 
more  impersonal  joy  of  discovery. 
151 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Concerning  such  a  feat  there  will  be  an 
unpleasant  doubting  Thomas  sort  of  per- 
son to  declare  promptly  that  any  dog 
separating  a  particular  coin  from  a  group 
thereof,  does  so  by  luck,  not  sagacity; 
an  interpretation  to  which  he  is  per- 
fectly welcome.  We  remember  that  by 
nature  he  is  an  unhappy  creature,  whom 
we  can  afford  to  pity;  also  that  he  did 
not  know  Dun:  and  we  pity  him  again. 

Or  Dun,  at  a  snap  of  the  finger  from 
Phil,  would  grab  a  paper  from  the  living- 
room  and  trot  with  it  in  his  mouth  to  the 
bedside,  there  to  sit  on  his  haunches  and 
await  his  master's  pleasure,  every  inch  of 
his  body  a  big,  expressive  wriggle  of  joy- 
ful service,  an  arch  look  in  his  eye  impossi- 
ble to  reproduce  by  the  poor  medium  of 
words.  When  Ludovic  soothed  the  boy's 
pain  with  a  tune  on  the  fiddle,  it  was  re- 
markable how  Dun  modified  his  howl,  as 
152 


if  conscious  that  this  was  a  sick-room, 
not  the  hurly-burly  of  the  streets  :  at  such 
times,  he  roared  you  gently  as  a  sucking 
dove.  Sadly  did  the  dog  miss  the  free 
outdoor  life  he  led  when  his  young  master 
was  well.  Ludovic  took  him  for  a  brief 
run  once  or  twice  a  day,  but  the  joint 
journalistic  activity  was  stopped  perforce. 
And  he  was  too  great  a  solace  in  the  sick- 
room to  be  spared  for  long.  It  was  truly 
wonderful  to  see  the  animal  jump  upon 
the  lower  end  of  Phil's  bed  and  daintily 
step  over  the  wounded  member,  exerci- 
sing such  care  that  never  once  did  he  hit 
the  foot  or  give  its  possessor  even  a 
tremor  of  nervousness.  It  seemed  part  of 
his  instinct  to  avoid  the  leg,  as  surely 
when  it  was  thrust  under  the  bed-clothes 
as  when,  later,  Phil  was  dressed  and  lying 
on  top  of  them,  his  limb  swathed  in  im- 
posing bandages. 

153 


Three  of  a  Kind 


In  short,  Dun  did  almost  everything 
except  play  the  violin :  and  maybe  he 
refrained  from  that  only  for  fear  of 
hurting  Ludovic's  feelings. 

The  climax  of  his  powers  found  ex- 
pression in  a  game,  invented  by  the  friends 
during  these  days  of  enforced  idleness ;  a 
game  yielding  them  a  huge  amount  of 
pleasure.  The  three  would  sit  around  the 
large  old-fashioned  dining-table ;  I  said 
the  three,  for  Dun  had  his  chair  as  well  as 
the  rest  of  them  and  sat  up  in  it  with 
exuberant  joy  fairly  exhaling  from  his 
tense  body.  It  took  some  days  to  keep 
him  from  anticipating  the  game  by  strik- 
ing his  paws  alternately  on  the  shining 
mahogany  surface,  —  shining  still,  though 
scratched  in  a  mariner  that  would  have 
induced  nervous  prostration  in  a  house- 
keeper of  the  gentler  sex. 

This   is   how    the   game   was   played. 

154 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


Trumps  were  first  named,  and  a  pack  of 
cards  was  then  strewn  face  down  over  the 
table,  and  each  player  in  turn  —  here 
again  Dun  manifested  a  well  nigh  irre- 
ducible predilection  to  be  first  —  struck 
a  card  at  random  with  his  hand  (or  paw) ; 
it  was  then  turned  up  and  its  suit  disclosed. 
In  case  it  was  the  trump  suit,  the  player 
had  it  for  his  own;  if  not,  it  was  mixed 
into  the  pack  again.  This  procedure  was 
maintained  until  the  pack  gradually 
melted  away  into  nothing,  and  the  winner 
was  of  course  that  contestant  who,  with 
nothing  in  the  center  of  the  table  left  to 
draw  from,  was  found  to  have  the  largest 
fraction  of  the  original  pile. 

It  was  fairly  amazing  to  see  what  fun 
all  of  them  derived  from  this  profound 
game;  and  more  than  marvellous  to 
watch  Dun  play  it.  ,  It  was  a  matter  of 
slow,  though  steady  improvement  with 
155 


Three  of  a  Kind 


him,  to  place  himself  upon  a  par  with  his 
companions.  Phil  worked  very  hard  and 
his  efforts  were  finally  crowned  with  con- 
spicuous success.  At  first,  it  took  much 
patience  to  induce  the  dog  to  sit  in  a 
chair,  without  either  climbing  on  to  the 
table  or  jumping  back  to  the  floor ;  then, 
hardest  of  all,  was  the  proper  striking  of 
the  card  with  his  fore-paw  when  his  turn 
came.  Apparently,  Dun  would  have 
been  better  pleased  to  hit  the  table  at 
random,  in  intervals  guided  by  his  degree 
of  emotion ;  he  regarded  it  as  great  larks 
as  a  form  of  exercise,  quite  apart  from 
its  esoteric  significance  in  the  game.  But 
a  warning  "  Dun !  "  uttered  in  a  low 
but  impressive  tone  by  Phil,  worked 
wonders,  and  in  a  few  days  the  animal 
only  hit  his  card  when  his  turn  came  and 
his  action  was  jogged  by  the  admonitory 
"  Now,  Dun !  "  from  the  boy  who  was 
156 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


to  him  a  guide.  When  it  happened  that 
Dun's  pile  waxed  and  grew  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  others,  complacent  and 
friendly  pats  were  showered  upon  him 
in  profusion,  and  when,  as  sometimes 
occurred,  he  actually  won,  and  a  shout 
from  Phil,  a  victorious  waving  of  his 
meerschaum  by  Ludovic,  signalled  the 
event,  the  excitement  of  their  commensal 
became  ecstatic  and  he  would  break  over 
the  rules  by  placing  both  forefeet  on  the 
table,  and  emitting  ear-piercing  barks, 
while  his  tail  wagged  so  fiercely  that  its 
rat-a-tat-tat  against  the  chair  had  for  all 
the  world  quite  a  military  sound.  Or 
perhaps  he  would  dash  frantically  about 
the  room,  vent  the  usual  staccato  yelps 
and  knock  over  such  small  objects  as  lay 
in  his  path;  until  on  one  such  occasion 
a  deprecatory  call  from  an  old  maid  on 
the  next  floor  below,  to  see  if  her  fellow 
157 


Three  of  a  Kind 


lodgers  had  a  fire  in   their  apartments, 
suggested  the  necessity  of  restraint. 

"Ain't  he  a  top-liner?"  Phil  would 
cry  with  unction,  at  one  of  these  exhibi- 
tions; his  speech,  you  may  perceive, 
took  some  of  its  color  from  the  variety 
halls  which  he  had  more  assiduously 
cultivated  before  he  joined  forces  with 
the  violinist. 

"  He's  on  to  the  curves  of  the  game, 
all  right.    He'd  be  a  prize  in  a  gambling 
house,  for  to  sit  by  and  watch  'em  deal 
and  yell  when  anything  was  crooked,  - 
wouldn't  he,  Ludy  ?  " 

"  Ja  wohl"  replied  the  musician,  as 
Phil  looked  at  the  small  but  sagacious 
brute  with  that  particular  kind  of  benev- 
olence with  which  one  responsible  for 
remarkable  results  is  wont  to  gaze  upon 
his  handiwork. 

If  you  force  me  to  express  an  opinion 
158 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


whether  or  no  Dun  really  understood  the 
game  —  which  by  the  way  they  had 
spontaneously  named  '  Paw-Paws  "  in 
his  honor,  —  all  I  can  say  is  that  he  cer- 
tainly seemed  to  understand  it,  and, 
moreover,  obeyed  its  laws  when  once 
they  were  learned,  much  better  than  you 
and  I,  my  dear  sir,  obey  the  laws  of  the 
game  of  life.  Anyhow,  you  could  not 
find  in  a  day's  travel  a  more  agreeable 
spectacle  than  that  of  Dun  in  the  middle 
of  the  contest,  bursting  with  the  desire 
to  hit  a  card  and  so  add  to  his  pile,  but 
restrained  until  his  turn  came  by  Phil's 
look,  or  word,  or  warning  finger ;  check- 
ing abortive  movements  towards  action 
again  and  again,  and  saying  to  his 
associates  as  plainly  as  tail  and  eye  could : 
'  My,  but  it's  a  long  while  since  I  did 
anything  —  can't  I  play,  please,  little 
lame  master  or  big  shaggy  one  ?  " 
159 


Three  of  a  Kind 


It  is  a  popular  notion  that  the  brute 
creation  does  not  laugh  save  for  the  un- 
mirthful  cachinnation  of  the  hyena.  To 
sit  by  Dun  through  one  of  these  games, 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  kill  this 
fallacy  forever:  his  teeth  fairly  shone 
in  grin  after  grin  that  wrinkled  his  nose 
and  advertised  his  glee. 

Many  otherwise  tedious  hours  were 
thus  sped  away  by  the  three,  who,  as 
always  with  the  innocent  of  heart,  were 
easily  amused,  as  you  see. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  place  than 
this,  when  you  are  rapt  in  admiration  of 
Dun's  character  and  accomplishments, 
to  confess  to  a  defect  in  him  that  it  is  a 
grief  to  his  true  lover  even  to  refer  to : 
indeed,  I  have  more  than  half  a  mind  not 
to  mention  it.  But  as  this  is  above  all 
else  a  truthful  chronicle,  you  shall  hear 
the  worst. 

160 


It  is  connected  with  the  matter  of  dog- 
biscuit  :  Dun  would  not  eat  them  - 
there !  the  murder  is  out.  Now,  the 
dog  books  will  all  inform  you  that  this 
food  preparation  is  the  best  possible 
dietary  for  a  dog:  and  most  dogs,  after 
more  or  less  coaxing  or  compulsion,  take 
kindly  enough  to  the  idea.  And,  as  dog 
owners  know,  it  is  an  immense  simpli- 
fication of  the  question  of  the  canine  diet. 
But  Dun  simply  turned  up  his  aristo- 
cratic nose  at  the  dog-biscuit:  cajole- 
ments and  threats  were  alike  unavailing. 
Even  when  the  biscuit  were  soaked  in 
excellent  gravy  he  showed  but  a  languid 
interest  and  had  developed  an  absolute 
genius  for  nozzling  the  solid  food  aside 
and  lapping  up  the  liquid.  Not  that  he 
affected  the  Teutonic  in  his  tastes  and 
begged  Ludovic  for  Bologna.  No,  his 
motto  seemed  to  be:  Aut  Caesar,  aut 
161 


Three  of  a  Kind 


nihil:  give  me  Christian  meat  or  give 
me  starvation.  So  with  a  firmness  that 
was  Roman-like  in  its  gravity  and  per- 
sistence, he  refused  dog-biscuit.  It  need 
not  be  said,  that  some  households  would 
have  starved  (or  even  beaten)  the  creature 
into  accepting  this  convenient,  inexpen- 
sive and  wholesome  bill-of-fare.  But 
alas !  the  top-room  cronies  were  not  the 
people  to  do  it;  they  were  too  soft- 
hearted (as  Dun  no  doubt  knew)  and  so 
they  meekly  bowed  down  to  his  decision. 
Phil  sagely  suggested  (after  an  impor- 
tant talk  with  the  violinist  concerning  the 
problem)  that  Dun's  former  free  life, 
with  swill-pails  innumerable  at  his  call, 
had  spoiled  him  for  so  sober  a  gastro- 
nomic offering.  To  ask  him  to  adjust 
himself  to  it,  was  a  good  deal  like  asking 
a  patron  of  Delmonico's  to  change  for 
life  to  a  twenty-five  cent  vegetarian  meal. 
162 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


And  Ludovic  further  reflected  that  the 
great  characters  of  history  of  whom  he 
had  cognizance,  exhibited  as  a  rule  some 
little  flaw,  —  mere  spots  on  the  sun : 
against  which  their  general  virtues  shone 
but  the  more  radiantly.  So  Dun  was 
loved  bespite  his  blemish. 

But  it  was  an  anxious  time,  too,  this 
of  Phil's  slow  convalescence,  although  it 
served  to  knit  these  comrades  together 
in  the  beautiful  bonds  of  a  still  closer 
friendship.  The  extra  expenses  were 
heavy.  Ludovic's  small  savings,  laid  by 
for  a  rainy  day,  dwindled  steadily.  It 
was  a  month  before  Phil  could  hobble 
about  with  the  aid  of  a  cane,  from  bed- 
room to  living-room ;  a  wreek  more  before 
the  doctor  took  the  bandages  from  his 
foot  and  let  him  don  a  stocking  and  easy 
shoe.  Nurse  and  physician  were  yet  to 
pay.  Ludovic  had  tried  to  utilize  his 
163 


Three  of  a  Kind 


time  by  overhauling  his  stock  of  manu- 
scripts, to  see  if  perchance  he  had  written 
anything  possessing  a  possible  market 
value.  He  had  always  intended  to  publish 
some  of  his  music,  some  day ;  but  he  had 
never  given  the  matter  sufficient  attention 
to  overcome  inertia;  this  again  was  a 
sign  of  his  temperament,  the  explanation, 
very  likely,  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a  poor 
musician  in  a  sky-parlor  instead  of  a  man 
famed  in  his  calling,  petted  and  pam- 
pered by  a  fickle  public.  Then,  too, 
something  in  him  shrunk  from  giving  to 
the  world  creations  in  music  which  had 
been  so  intimate,  so  precious  a  part  of 
himself:  it  seemed  a  form  of  indelicacy. 
Ah,  the  tragedy  of  the  natures  that  have 
the  highest  faculty,  yet  lack  the  lower 
necessary  to  vanquish  the  world ! 

"  And  so  we  half  men  struggle;   at  the  end, 
God,  I  conclude,  compensates,  punishes." 
164 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


One  composition,  a  song  in  the  minor 
key,  especially  took  his  fancy  as  he  rumi- 
nated over  his  papers;  he  touched  it  a 
little,  lovingly,  here  and  there,  played  it  on 
the  violin,  and  encouraged  both  by 
Phil's  frankly  expressed  approval  and 
Dun's  more  than  usually  sympathetic 
wails,  in  response  to  the  pathos  of  the 
piece,  bore  it  away  with  him  one  day  to 
a  publisher.  He  had  copied  it  out  very 
neatly  in  his  best  hand  and  added  a 
Widmung  to  Hilda.  The  critic,  when 
Ludovic  called  next  day  for  his  answer, 
indulged  in  the  usual  '  hemming  and 
hawing.  The  majority  of  those  whose 
function  it  is  to  pass  judgment  upon  the 
coinages  of  Art,  make  a  loud-mouthed 
profession  of  their  eagerness  to  secure 
the  true,  the  good,  and  the  beautiful. 
Too  often,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  fall 
into  the  easy  rut  of  the  commonplace 
165 


Three  of  a  Kind 


and  the  conventional,  and  turn  but  glazed 
eyes  to  the  genuinely  worthy  new  thing. 
The  history  of  all  the  arts  is  the  story  of 
the  attempt  of  the  New  Thing  to  dodge 
around  the  critic  and  get  at  the  public,  — 
which,  much  abused  as  it  is,  decides  the 
question  in  the  long  run.  For  somehow, 
the  public  knows ;  there  seems  to  be 
safety  for  the  artist  in  their  very  numbers. 
The  critic  in  the  present  case,  after 
informing  Ludovic  magisterially  that  his 
work  was  ungrammatical,  that  sentimen- 
tal ballads  were  quite  out  of  vogue  and 
that  there  was  no  money  (he  meant  for 
the  composer)  even  in  successes  nowadays 
because  of  the  outrageous  copyright  re- 
strictions —  a  manner  of  talk  leading 
logically  up  to  a  rejection  of  the  musician's 
wares  —  told  the  violinist,  in  a  sudden 
volteface,  that  his  house  would  publish 
the  song  upon  certain  conditions :  promi- 
166 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


nent  among  them,  an  arrangement 
whereby  no  royalty  should  be  paid  the 
composer  until  the  expenses  of  publication 
had  been  covered.  As  a  counter-proposi- 
tion, Ludovic  offered  the  manuscript  for 
a  quitclaim  sum  of  fifty  dollars,  —  which 
was  accepted  with  an  alacrity  which 
might  have  been  suspicious  to  a  better 
business  man  than  the  old  musician. 
By  the  transaction,  the  publisher,  in  all 
probability,  stood  to  win  a  thousand  or 
more.  As  it  turned  out,  the  little  composi- 
tion of  Ludovic's  became  so  widely  known 
within  two  years,  that  its  creator  would 
have  reaped  what  was  for  him  riches,  had 
he  retained  an  ownership  on  his  property 
-  the  child  of  his  soul.  But  this  has  ever 
been  the  way  of  the  artist  tribe,  since 
Jubal  first  harped  in  the  days  after 
Eden.  And  Ludovic  trudged  home  with 
the  check  for  fifty  dollars  in  his  pocket 
167 


Three  of  a  Kind 


and  nothing  but  joy  in  his  heart:  his 
face  beamed  as  he  waved  the  slip  of  paper 
before  Phil : 

"  See,  my  child,  fifty  dollars,  nicht  ? 
Und  Hilda's  name  remembered  by  the 
lovers  of  music,  because  of  my  leedle 
song.  It  is  good !  very  good !  We 
shall  have  wine  for  thee,  to-morrow,  and 
two  fine  meals  for  pudel  Dun  —  thou 
rascal  hound  !  "  And  Ludovic  playfully 
bent  down  to  pull  the  animal's  long  silky 
ears  —  one  of  the  choicest  of  the  cocker's 
markings. 

But  in  spite  of  this  welcome  addition 
to  their  income,  it  was  a  hard  pull.  The 
three  had  their  share,  during  these  weeks, 
in  that  main  anxiety  of  the  great  mass  of 
mankind:  fear  for  the  next  meal.  You, 
well-fed  as  well  as  gentle  reader,  do  not, 
it  may  be,  realize  that  this  is  the  stern,  if 
vulgar,  immediate  question,  compared 
168 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


with  which  all  others  seem  minor  and 
academic.  Beside  its  awful  pressure, 
the  subtleties  of  analytic  action,  so  fondly 
portrayed  by  certain  able  modern  makers 
of  fiction,  are  but  a  puff  of  air.  Hunger 
and  love  are,  in  truth,  the  two  mighty 
motive  forces  driving  man  on  to  his 
destined  fate ;  but  hunger  comes  first  by 
untold  ages,  and  lasts  longest;  and  in 
response  to  its  imperious  mandates,  the 
sons  of  men  arise  and  go  forth  to  conquer 
-  or  to  die. 

Another  disturbing  element,  of  a  very 
different  kind,  had  also  come  into  their 
life  during  Phil's  period  of  inaction. 
When  the  nurse,  in  the  first  days  of  his 
injury,  had  hovered  around  him,  adminis- 
tering quieting  draughts  and  readjusting 
his  bandages,  she  had  been  much  drawn 
to  her  young  patient  because  of  his  fine 
face,  his  piquant  way  of  speech,  the 
169 


Three  of  a  Kind 


buoyant  manner  in  which  he  took  his 
mishap.  Nor  had  she  failed  to  notice  the 
signs  of  straitened  means  in  the  domi- 
cile of  the  old  musician.  His  habit  of 
beer-drinking  out  of  the  mammoth  tank- 
ard had  also  left  an  unpleasant  suggestion 
of  dissolute  practices  upon  her  ladylike 
mind;  previously,  as  it  chanced,  her 
ministrations  had  been  mostly  confined 
to  families  where  elegant  propriety  ruled 
supreme.  The  boy  in  his  tender  years 
might  become  a  swiller  of  beer  —  by 
imitation,  she  reflected.  And  what,  in 
the  meanwhile,  was  supporting  the  little 
household  ?  Thus  ran  her  cogitation : 
and  it  had  seemed  to  her  well-meaning  if 
somewhat  officious  nature  a  case  for 
philanthropic  supervision.  A  brilliant 
scheme  for  bettering  this  humble  home 
entered  into  her  mind.  How  much  of 
the  so-called  charity  of  our  day  has  all 
170 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


the  Christian  virtues  —  and  no  tact ! 
Whereas,  one  is  almost  tempted  to  say, 
the  greatest  of  these  is  tact.  So  Miss 
Aimer  reported  the  case  to  a  friend  of 
hers,  the  secretary  of  a  Society  for  Hu- 
manitarian Endeavor,  and  the  result  was 
a  scene  enacted  on  a  bleak  December 
morning  in  the  shabby  comfortable  living- 
room  on  the  tip-topiest  floor  of  all. 

It  was  ten  o'clock,  and  Phil  was  lying  in 
his  bedroom  while  the  big  master  sat  at 
the  table  in  the  next  room,  sundry 
manuscripts  about  him,  busily  engaged  in 
getting  on  to  paper  a  tantalizing  chanson 
which  danced  its  way  through  his  imagi- 
nation. Candor  compels  to  the  admission 
that  a  breakfast  smell  of  fried  ham  and 
sausage  lingered  on  the  air,  implying 
two  things :  that  the  three  had  break- 
fasted late,  and  that  Ludovic  had  a 
weakness  for  Wiener  Schnitzel.  Those 
171 


Three  of  a  Kind 


who  are  in  search  of  a  hero  of  romance, 
will  kindly  take  notice  that  I  am  depicting 
ordinary  humanity ;  a  man,  not  a  pattern 
plate. 

A  knock  at  the  door  made  him  look  up, 
with  a  half  frown;  to  his  absent-minded 
and,  be  it  confessed,  not  over-cordial 
herein,  entered  two  figures,  a  man  and  a 
woman.  Ludovic  rose,  bowed  and  courte- 
ously offered  them  chairs. 

"  This  is  Mr.  Ludovic  -  -  ?  "  asked 
the  man,  in  what  was  meant  to  be  a 
gracious  fashion,  hesitating  over  the  last 
name.  There  was  just  that  slight  tinge 
of  patronage  in  his  tone,  that  extra 
cordiality  of  manner,  which  suggests  con- 
descension and  is  sufficient  to  neutralize 
the  kindly  intent;  a  fact  of  which  the 
visitor  however  was  blissfully  unaware. 

"  My  name  is  Ludovic,  yes,  Ludovic 
Heffner,  sir,  at  your  pleasure,"  said  the 
172 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


musician.  There  was  a  certain  courtliness 
in  both  manner  and  speech  that  was  not 
lost  on  the  other,  who,  to  do  him  justice, 
had  the  best  will  in  the  world.  He  cleared 
his  throat: 

"  I  am  Mr.  Redding,  —  one  of  the 
officers  of  the  League  of  Loving  Workers ; 
you  may  have  heard  of  it.  And  this  is 
our  house  visitor,  Miss  Nevers." 

There  was  a  perceptible  stiffening  in 
the  carriage  of  their  host;  when  he  re- 
plied, the  slight  increase  in  his  German 
accent,  always  noticeable,  as  we  have 
seen,  when  excitement  dominated  him, 
could  be  detected :  it  was  a  sort  of 
danger  signal,  had  Mr.  Redding  but 
known  it. 

;'  I  know  not  your  society,  mein  Herr. 
Why  come  you  to  me  ?  Is  it  you  have 
some  —  some  message,  yes  ?  " 

There  was  a  moment's  pause,  not  with- 
173 


Three  of  a  Kind 


out  its  embarrassment  on  the  side  of  the 
visitors.  Then  the  social  atmosphere  was 
partially  cleared  by  Miss  Nevers,  who 
broke  in  with  a  sweet  voice,  whose  cordial 
ring  made  her  words  of  secondary  impor- 
tance. 

"  We  heard  of  your  misfortunes,  Mr. 
Heffner:  your  being  out  of  work  and 
vour  —  your  ward's  accident.  So  we 

»/  «/ 

thought  we  would  call  to  express  sympathy 
and  to  see  if  we  could  help  perhaps  - 
make  it  easier  for  you  in  any  way.    How 
is  the  little  man  getting  on  ?  " 

Ludovic,  looking  a  trifle  dazed,  rose 
from  his  chair  and  went  to  the  inner  door. 

"  Entschuldigen  Sie  mich  —  excuse  me, 
if  you  please,"  he  said ;  then  speaking  to 
Phil :  "  Come  out,  my  child,  we  have 
guests." 

Immediately  the  rap-rap  of  the  boy's 
crutches    announced    his    presence;    he 
174 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


stood  in  the  doorway  a  moment,  gazing 
at  the  strangers,  making  a  wonderful 
exotic  note  of  the  picturesque  as  he  halted 
in  this  impromptu  frame,  with  his  swarthy 
vivid  face,  the  lustrous  dark  hair  above 
it  and  the  white  teeth  gleaming  now  in  a 
smile  half  sheepish  but  wholly  polite. 

"  Good  morning,  er  —  Phil,  is  it  ? 
How  is  your  foot  getting  on?  How  long 
is  it  since  it  was  hurt  ?  " 

The  very  apparent  good  feeling  in  the 
inquiry  made  Phil  feel  easy : 

"  Thank  you,  marm,  it's  a-coming  on 
fine,  all  right.  I'll  be  selling  papers  at 
the  old  stand  in  a  week  or  ten  days  —  hey, 
Dun?" 

The  inclusion  of  the  dog  was  but 
natural,  for  at  that  moment  a  deep  growl, 
coming  seemingly  out  of  the  bowels  of 
nowhere,  had  somewhat  disconcerted  the 
callers,  especially  Mr.  Redding,  whose 
175 


Three  of  a  Kind 


humanitarian  manner  of  life  had  not  bred 
in  him  a  love  of  animals.  Don  had  been 
secreted  up  to  this  time  behind  the  screen ; 
it  was  with  him  a  favorite  place  of  retire- 
ment for  meditation  or  sleep :  that  he 
had  not  come  alertly  forth  at  the  unusual 
event  of  a  knock  on  the  door,  was  abnor- 
mal and  due  perhaps  to  an  extra  hearty 
meal  dispensed  by  the  too  prodigal  hand 
of  Ludovic  at  a  time  when  the  amount  of 
food  in  the  menage  was  a  matter  of  rather 
close  calculation.  But  the  musician 
would  have  begun  the  curtailment  with 
himself  rather  than  with  the  dog. 

Dun  now  stepped  gravely  forth,  took 
the  center  of  the  stage  and  looked  from 
his  own  people  to  the  newcomers  with  a 
mien  which,  translated  into  the  speech  of 
man,  might  have  been  more  direct  than 
Chesterfieldian  in  quality.  I  rejoice  to 
set  it  down  that  he  did  not  belong  to  that 
176 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


nondescript  order  of  animal  (mostly 
found  among  the  mongrel  class)  which 
indiscriminately  accepts  all  humans, 
making  no  distinction  between  good  and 
bad.  Dun,  who  was  no  universalist  in 
his  theology,  knew  better;  and  he  pos- 
sessed in  full  measure  the  true  dog's 
instinct  for  defending  the  home  against 
intruders.  The  callers  might  be  all  right, 
he  conceded;  but  they  would  have  to 
prove  it  before  he  admitted  them  to  favor ; 
the  doctrine  of  total  (human)  depravity 
he  accepted  in  a  modified,  more  kindly, 
modern  form.  If  his  masters,  big  and 
small,  accepted  these  strangers,  well  and 
good,  this  would  affect  his  own  position : 
until  then,  cave  canem.  So,  he  growled. 

'  The  hound  is  mild,  fear  him  not," 

quoth  Ludovic,  and  Phil  playfully  cuffed 

the  quadruped  in  a  manner  which  Dun 

instantly    interpreted    to    mean    that    a 

177 


Three  of  a  Kind 


hostile  attitude  on  his  part  was  not  gentle- 
manlike, and  so,  at  once,  resumed  his 
wonted  amiability  and  retired  up  stage  - 
which  is  to  say,  into  his  comfortable  cor- 
ner. But  the  long,  deep  sigh  with  which 
he  once  more  addressed  himself  to  slum- 
ber, spoke  volumes  for  his  opinion  of  the 
outside  world  of  persons  who  insisted 
upon  butting  in  upon  their  privacy. 

Mr.  Redding,  at  the  brute's  first  ap- 
pearance, had  edged  nervously  away 
from  him  and  made  a  sickly  attempt  at 
jocularity,  with  the  words : 

"  Good  doggie,  don't  you  know  us  ?  " 
But  now,  his  equilibrium  restored,  he 
braced  himself  for  his  duty :  '*  Have 
you  ever  thought,  Mr.  Heffner,"  he  said, 
"  of  what  will  become  of  our  young 
friend,  here,  as  he  grows  up  into  man- 
hood ?  " 

"  Ach,   Himmel,   have   I   not   thought 
178 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


what  will  become  of  all  of  us  yet  ?  It  is 
all  in  the  hand  of  the  Herr  Gott,  not?  " 
was  the  old  fiddler's  answer,  accompanied 
by  a  philosophic  shrug  of  the  shoulders, 
a  whimsical  spreading  out  of  his  long 
flexible  hands,  the  hands  of  a  very  musi- 
cian. 

"  Ah,  very  true,  but  what  I  had  in  mind 
was  this :  Would  it  not  be  well  for  the 
interests  of  the  boy,  as  well  as  a  —  a 
possible  relief  to  you,  if  some  disposition 
were  made  of  him,  say  in  some  good 
country  family  where  he  would  grow  up 
happy  and  healthy,  surrounded  by  coun- 
try sights  and  sounds,  adopted  by  people 
who  would  look  out  for  his  interests  in 
life?  You  would  miss  him,  no  doubt, 
but  in  your  —  ahem  !  er  —  cramped  cir- 
cumstances —  " 

Abruptly  Ludovic  rose  to  his  full 
height.  So  abruptly  in  fact  that  he  over- 
179 


Three  of  a  Kind 


turned  his  chair  and  the  noise  brought 
Dun  instantaneously  at  charge  into  the 
middle  of  the  room ;  the  musician's  fa- 
vorite meerschaum  fell  to  the  floor,  the 
bowl,  colored  lovingly  to  a  rich  chocolate 
brown,  smashing  into  twenty  pieces,  - 
an  accident  which  its  owner  seemed  un- 
aware of.  He  towered  above  his  visitors 
and  looked  down  upon  them  with  his 
lined  face  white  and  working  with  emo- 
tion. 

"  So !  You  think  us  —  what  you  call 
paupers,  not  ?  You  think  love  is  for  the 
rich  alone.  The  child,  it  is  my  son,  my 
son,  you  understand;  his  place,  it  is  by 
me,  not  by  strangers.  I  lof  him  out  from 
my  heart.  I  -  His  voice  broke,  he 

trembled  where  he  stood. 

Phil,   half   frightened,   half   indignant, 
stepped  to  his  friend's  side  and  slipped 
his  brown  hand  into  the  musician's  big 
180 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


firm  clasp.  The  gesture  was  eloquent, 
passing  any  use  of  words.  Dun,  in  the 
meanwhile,  had  planted  himself  stiffly 
by  the  side  of  his  confreres.  So  the 
three  faced  the  other  two,  a  trinity  of 
comrades  against  the  representatives  of 
the  outer  world,  —  the  world  of  reason 
and  cant  and  mistaken  kindness. 

Mr.  Redding,  nonplussed  by  the  way 
his  perfectly  well  intentioned  proposition 
had  been  received,  began  to  stammer  out 
words  of  further  explanation,  but  sud- 
denly Ludovic's  expression  changed.  A 
new  thought  evidently  had  crossed  his 
mind ;  he  turned  to  Phil : 

"What  say  you,  little  Meister:  willst 
du  mit  oder  bleibst  du  hier  ?  " 

In  his  deep  feeling,  it  was  hard  for  him 
not  to  use  the  native  speech. 

*  Will  you  like  to  go  with  the  lady  and 
gentlemans  ?    or  stay  here  by  me  and  the 
181 


Three  of  a  Kind 


-  the  —  dog  ?  "  Huskily  the  final  words 
came  out;  his  voice  was  exquisitely  rich 
and  tender. 

"  I'll  stay  with  you,  big  master,  and 
with  Dun.  I  hav'n't  no  use  for  anybody 
else.  Huh!  You  bet  I'll  stay."  And 
hot  scorn  leaped  out  of  the  boy's  clear 
eyes ;  \vithin  them  was  a  sort  of  dumb 
sense  of  injury  that  his  guardian  and 
friend  could  doubt  his  decision. 

"  You  see,  the  little  chap,  he  stay ;  but 
we  both  tank  you,  Sir  and  Madame,  for 
the  good  thought." 

Belatedly  he  had  a  sense  that  he  had 
shown  but  scant  courtesy  and  the  last 
words  were  in  the  nature  of  an  amende. 

Both  the  callers  got  up:  their  mission 
had  failed;  they  felt  that  any  further 
attempt  would  be  a  thankless  imperti- 
nence. 

"Good-by,  Mr.  Heffner,  Good-by, 
182 


The  Wolf  and  the  Dog 


Phil.  Let  us  know  if  we  can  assist  you  in 
any  way.  Here  is  a  card  with  our  ad- 
dress." And  with  their  hearts  strangely 
stirred,  —  for  they  were  kindly  persons, 
as  we  have  seen,  —  the  two  departed. 

As  the  sound  of  their  steps  on  the  stairs 
died  away,  there  followed  a  minute  of 
embarrassment  between  Phil  and  Ludo- 
vic.  Then  the  latter,  passing  his  arm 
about  the  lad's  shoulder,  said  in  a  voice 
deeper  and  more  vibrant  than  usual : 

"  You  stay  by  the  old  fiddler,  hey  ? 
You  give  up  a  nice  home  for  his  sake  ? 
You  don't  leave  me  and  Dun  together, 
us  two,  and  you  go  mit  them  two,  not  ?  " 
And  the  boy,  with  his  dark  eyes  blurred  a 
bit  with  tears,  of  which  he  was  immensely 
ashamed,  made  a  characteristic  answer: 
!  Those  guys  must  be  clean  crazy  to 
think  I'd  go.  I  ain't  stuck  much  on  that 
bunch,  anyhow,  are  you  ?  The  lady's  all 
183 


Three  of  a  Kind 


right  enough ;  but  his  Nibs,  —  I'd  like 
to  punch  him  in  the  solar  plexus,  like 
the  prize-fighters  do.  We  had  'era  both 
guessing  some.  Leave  you  ?  Not  in  a 
hundred  years,  as  long  as  you  want  me." 
Then  with  a  quizzical  smile,  looking  at 
the  dog,  who  was  softly  whining  for  atten- 
tion, '  Three  of  a  kind  beats  any  old 
pair  you  can  stack  up,  —  don't  it,  Dun  ?  " 

And  Ludovic's  mellow  laughter,  a 
wholesome  reaction  from  emotion,  min- 
gled with  the  affectionate  barking  of 
the  dog  as  he  poked  his  nose  insinua- 
tingly into  the  caressing  hand  and  snug- 
gled close  to  his  cherished  house-mates. 
Three  of  a  kind  they  were,  in  very  truth, 
and  the  God  of  us  all  looked  not  down 
upon  a  fellowship  more  loving  or  loyal 
in  all  the  big,  sad  tangle  of  the  town. 

Thus   did   the  mystic  number  remain 
the  same,  the  circle  was  still  unbroken. 
184 


VIII 
FATHER   AND    SON 


FATHER  AND 
SON 


MIDDLE  December  though  it  be, 
Ludovic  had  secured  a  week's 
engagement  with  the  street  band 
hastily  formed   to   take  advantage  of  an 
unusually  mild  spell  of  weather,  —  mak- 
ing outdoor  work  agreeable  to  the  players 
and  productive  of  curb  audiences. 

Several  of  the  itinerant  orchestra  were 
187 


Three  of  a  Kind 


his  messmates  at  the  theatre  and  had 
sought  him  out  when  they  decided  to  add 
day  labor  to  their  nightly  toil.  There  was 
talk,  so  they  told  him,  of  a  new  leader  at 
the  theatre:  Sternberg  had  been  getting 
more  and  more  autocratic  and  ugly.  Two 
more  of  the  best  men  had  left,  unable  to 
endure  his  high-handed  ways.  The  man- 
agement was  considering  a  change.  It 
was  likely  that  Ludovic  would  be  called 
back  to  his  place  before  long.  In  short, 
luck  was  turning  —  as  it  always  does. 

There  was  comfort  in  this  news  and  our 
friend  blew  into  the  trombone  with  a 
stout  heart.  They  were  playing,  in  one 
of  the  aristocratic  west-lying  streets,  the 
little  air  of  Ludovic's  which  he  had  dedi- 
cated to  Hilda.  He  had  shown  it  to  one 
or  two  of  them  in  manuscript,  telling  cf 
its  coming  publication;  and  it  had  so 
taken  their  fancy,  that  by  request  he  had 
188 


Father  and  Son 


copied  out  the  score  in  order  that  they 
might  play  the  unpublished  piece.  Lu- 
dovic  was  as  a  baby  in  his  ignorance 
of  literary  etiquette,  and  the  question 
whether,  having  disposed  of  the  song,  he 
had  a  right  to  render  it  in  this  public 
fashion,  had  never  even  entered  his  head. 
Was  not  music  issuing  from  the  loving 
heart  of  a  musician  a  thing  for  the  whole 
world's  joy  and  refreshment  and  consola- 
tion, a  free-will  offering  to  mankind  ? 
Thoughts  of  copyright  were  far  from 
him,  and  meanwhile  the  public  were  the 
beneficiaries. 

As  he  played  the  song  now,  it  seemed 
as  if  the  spirit  of  his  lost  love,  pleading 
with  him  for  her  child,  hovered  above  his 
head  and  made  the  air  sweet.  The  day, 
although  it  was  dull  and  dark,  with  an 
almost  sickly  warmth  to  it,  —  the  season 
pointed  to  what  is  known  as  a  green 
189 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Christmas,  —  seemed  to  him  beautiful 
and  set  apart  from  the  ordinary  sequence 
of  days,  because  of  this  private  and 
precious  experience. 

Phil  had  gone  gleefully  to  work  after 
his  enforced  idleness ;  once  more  he 
stood  at  his  corner,  limping  a  little  still, 
but  full  of  life,  and  Dun  by  his  side  was 
more  alert  than  ever  to  seize  a  paper  in 
his  jaws  and  on  his  hind  legs  hold  it  up 
temptingly  to  the  passers-by;  few  could 
resist  this  image  of  an  animal  rampant, 
particularly  now,  when  many  of  Phil's 
old  customers  were  glad  to  welcome  back 
dog  and  boy.  Frequent  had  been  the 
inquiries  concerning  him  while  he  was 
laid  up:  the  boy  by  his  brightness  and 
good  cheer,  and  the  unique  feature  of  his 
assistant,  had  really  won  a  considerable 
clientele.  So  to-day  his  store  of  change 
grew  apace  and  fairly  bulged  his  pockets. 
190 


Father  and  Son 


To  Dun,  upon  whom  the  enforced 
sequestration  of  Phil's  accident  had  been 
hard,  it  was  pure  bliss  to  be  again  in  the 
open  and  at  the  work  which  had  in  it  for 
him  the  blithe  essence  of  play.  During 
the  slow  weeks  when  his  master  was 
immured,  he  had  scarcely  averaged  a 
walk  a  day,  chaperoned  by  Ludovic,  in 
place  of  the  free  run  of  the  streets,  and 
had  really  suffered  from  this  short  tether. 
Albeit  he  was  regarded  as  a  perfectly 
trustworthy  member  of  the  top-room 
trinity,  the  others  had  not  felt  quite 
like  turning  him  loose  to  run  at  will 
about  the  city.  For  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Dun  had  pretty  well  out- 
grown his  earlier  gypsy  instinct  to 
wander  and  lose  himself  in  the  mazes 
of  outdoors,  there  had  been  one  or  two 
anxious  occasions  when  he  had  disap- 
peared from  mortal  view  and  remained 
191 


Three  of  a  Kind 


invisible  all  day  —  once  indeed,  for  over 
night  —  returning  a  wretchedly  bedrag- 
gled apology  for  a  dog,  dirty  beyond 
description,  tired  to  the  last  degree, 
hungry  as  one  of  his  ancestral  wolves  — 
but,  though  expectant  of  a  flogging,  per- 
fectly happy  alike  over  his  outing  and  his 
home-coming :  a  fearful  and  divided  joy. 

So  now,  with  every  inch  of  him  active, 
he  yelped  delight  at  such  moments  as  his 
mouth  was  not  filled  with  the  daily  news, 
and  in  a  sense  other  than  metaphoric, 
gamboled  on  the  green :  for  Phil's  post 
was  hard  by  the  Common,  just  where  the 
little  stations  of  the  Subway  belch  forth 
or  swallow  up  the  throngs  of  city  folk  and 
above  them  looms  the  tower  of  the  quaint 
old  church  that  has  long  gazed  down  upon 
those  motley  processions  of  mankind. 

Dun's  pride,  too,  was  immense  when, 
as  occasionally  happened,  somebody  bent 
192 


Father  and  Son 


down  to  give  him  a  pat  expressive  of 
satisfaction  that  he  had  returned  to  his 
place :  then  would  gratitude  exude  from 
every  pore  of  his  being.  He  was  almost 
too  uplifted  to  do  his  work  with  the  proper 
attention  to  prose  details. 

The  day  was  a  busy  one  for  them  both, 
and  the  time  sped  fast.  Before  Phil 
could  have  believed  it,  the  hands  of  the 
old  clock,  already  dimming  in  the  dusk, 
pointed  to  after  five;  business  was  at  its 
height  and  the  thoroughfare  densely 
thronged ;  but  before  very  long  now, 
they  could  go  home.  Phil  was  not  sorry, 
for  he  began  to  discover  that  his  foot 
ached  from  unaccustomed  use;  he  was 
very  weary  and  the  big  room  under  the 
eaves  loomed  up  alluringly  to  his  imagina- 
tion. 

Suddenly,  a  short  way  down  the  teem- 
ing street,  he  heard  familiar  sounds.  A 
193 


Three  of  a  Kind 


street  band  broke  forth  into  a  popular 
air  of  the  moment  and  the  usual  curb- 
lined  crowd  assembled  as  if  by  magic. 
He  thought  he  knew  the  swelling  notes  of 
the  trombone  player,  and  looking  hard  at 
the  musicians,  he  recognized  Ludovic; 
evidently  the  violinist  had  so  manoeuvred 
his  day  as  to  end  his  work  beside  the  boy, 
so  that  they  might  go  home  together  on 
this,  Phil's  first  return  to  the  world  as  a 
wage-earner. 

"Hullo,  Ludy!  All  right,  we'll  be 
ready,"  he  cried,  waving  his  slip  of  a  cap. 

But  at  that  moment,  the  band  ceased  to 
play  in  the  middle  of  a  gay  passage ;  con- 
fused cries  rose  in  the  air,  there  was  a 
rapid  melting  away  of  the  crowd  about 
the  orchestra ;  a  wildly  galloping  horse 
with  the  remnants  of  a  wagon  clattering 
at  his  heels,  dashed  along  the  street, 
swaying  ominously  from  side  to  side,  and 
194 


Father  and  Son 


making  direct  for  where  Phil  stood.  His 
first  thought  was  for  Ludovic,  but  almost 
before  he  could  realize  it,  the  runaway 
was  upon  him.  Disabled  as  he  was,  he 
had  but  just  time  to  jump  aside  and  drag 
Dun  from  under  the  very  heels  of  the 
flying  animal,  whose  mad  onward  course 
down  the  thoroughfare  was  marked  by 
the  wreckage  he  left  behind  and  the  lane 
he  opened  between  the  frightened  masses 
of  people :  no  intrepid  hero  was  on  hand 
to  check  the  flight,  and  soon  the  crowd 
closed  in  upon  his  trail  and  shut  away 
from  sight  his  further  fate. 

Phil's  energetic  dodging  of  danger  had 
thrown  him  asprawl  on  the  pavement  and 
from  his  two  pockets  had  poured  the  ta- 
kings of  the  day :  coppers  and  silver  pieces 
in  an  undistinguishable  mass  rolled  off  in 
all  directions,  and  the  newsboy,  unharmed 
but  alarmed  at  the  loss  of  his  treasure, 
195 


Three  of  a  Kind 


scrambled  on  all  fours  after  the  money. 
Luckily,  perhaps,  those  near  him  still 
had  their  attention  taken  up  by  the  run- 
away. Ludovic,  too,  had  seen  his  plight, 
and  the  old  musician's  heart  stood  still 
when  Phil  barely  pulled  himself  and  the 
dog  out  of  the  jaws  of  possible  death ;  for 
a  little  more  and  the  horse's  hoofs  might 
have  beaten  him  into  a  shapeless  huddle 
of  insensibility.  Now,  with  a  cheery 
word  and  an  encouraging  pat  on  the 
shoulder,  he  bent  down  to  help  the  boy 
recover  his  scattered  property.  Soon, 
other  kindly  persons,  seeing  his  predica- 
ment, lent  their  assistance:  it  is  worth 
noticing  as  a  phase  of  city  life,  that  when 
money  is  thus  at  the  mercy  of  a  multitude, 
it  is  rarely  stolen:  the  better  side  of 
human  nature  seems  to  be  appealed  to 
by  the  misfortune  of  a  fellow  man,  and 
the  onlookers,  whether  prosperous  mer- 
196 


Father  and  Son 


chant  or  barefooted  hobo,  are  all  moved 
to  helpfulness  in  the  righting  of  the 
trouble.  It  was  so  in  this  case.  In  a  very 
few  minutes  Phil,  aided  in  his  search  by 
half  a  dozen  impromptu  friends,  was 
peering  in  the  gutter  for  a  few  sporadic 
bits  of  money,  with  the  main  part  of  his 
possessions  snugly  stowed  away  about  his 
person. 

As  Ludovic  picked  up  the  coin,  he  had 
come  upon  one  which  had  at  once  riveted 
his  attention;  his  eyes  dilated  when  he 
saw  it  first,  and  he  stood  as  if  transfixed  a 
moment,  then  slipped  it  meditatively  into 
his  coat.  The  coin  in  question  was  easily 
differentiated  from  the  rest  of  the  frac- 
tional pieces  by  its  peculiar  shape  and 
composition ;  plainly  it  was  some  sort 
of  foreign  money,  out  of  place  among  the 
practical  American  change.  The  old 
man  was  very  tender  in  a  musing  way  as 
197 


Three  of  a  Kind 


they  took  the  car  for  home  and  then 
walked  the  necessary  final  blocks ;  Phil 
chattering  of  his  good  luck  in  escaping 
harm,  of  Dun's  carriage  during  the  day, 
-  of  how  fine  it  had  seemed  to  be  at 
work  again. 

"  Gee,"  was  his  exclamation,  as  he 
stopped  short  on  their  onward  way, 
seized  by  the  thought:  "  Gee,  but  I  was 
scared,  big  master,  when  the  trotter 
struck  his  gait  and  headed  for  me.  Here 
goes  little  Phillie  for  fair,  I  says  to  myself. 
I  thought  Dun  was  in  the  soup  too.  A 
little  more  and  we'd  both  of  us  been  all 
in.  And  on  top  of  that,  I  had  to  lose  my 
mun  too ! "  Unconsciously,  the  lad 
moved  closer  to  the  towering,  silent 
figure  at  his  side. 

To  his  outpourings,  Ludovic  returned 
but  abstracted  answers,  though  his  man- 
ner was  sympathy  itself:  his  eyes  had 
198 


Father  and  Son 


the  faraway,  luminous  look  they  put  on 
when  he  was  hearing  his  favorite  music 
or  was  ruminating  on  the  past :  some- 
thing now  had  transported  him  thither. 
They  reached  their  lodging  and  slowly, 
wearily,  climbed  the  stairs,  —  those  flights 
seemed  formidable  at  the  day's  end, 
especially  to  limping  Phil. 

In  a  few  moments,  pleasant  odors  of 
supper  penetrated  from  the  miniature 
kitchen  to  the  homely  living-room:  for 
the  violinist  had  stopped  twice  on  the 
homeward  journey  to  purchase  articles 
of  food  more  delectable  than  usual,  that 
Phil's  supper  and  next  morning  meal 
might  be  full  of  savor.  With  the  lamp 
lighted  and  the  evening  pipe  aglow,  Ludo- 
vic,  when  supper  was  out  of  the  way, 
went  behind  the  screen  and  drew  out  the 
antique  box;  then  seated  himself  in  the 
arm-chair  and  slowly  lifted  Hilda's  yel- 
199 


Three  of  a  Kind 


low-paged  letter  from  its  resting-place 
and  took  from  beneath  it  the  old  Hessian 
coin:  his  hand  trembled  a  little,  his 
breath  came  quicker;  there  was  a  blur 
over  his  eyes. 

Meanwhile,  Phil,  cosily  ensconced  in  a 
corner,  with  Dun  as  interested  spectator, 
since  sleep  had  not  yet  overcome  him,  had 
spread  out  on  the  floor  the  gains  of  the 
day  and  was  "  counting  out  his  money," 
like  the  king  in  the  Mother  Goose 
rhyme.  And  Ludovic,  slowly,  his  hand 
still  shaking  with  a  palsy  not  of  the 
body,  took  from  his  pocket  the  stray  coin 
of  Phil's  which  he  had  picked  up  in  the 
street  that  day.  Side  by  side  in  his  palm 
he  set  the  two  pieces;  they  were  identi- 
cal! 

The  old  musician's  head  sank  low,  his 
eyes  closed,  his  pipe,  laid  on  the  arm  of  his 
chair,  went  out  unnoticed.     For  a  little 
200 


space  he  sat  absorbed  in  memories  that 
surged  upon  him  in  waves  like  the  coin- 
ing in  of  a  tide,  higher  and  higher  over 
his  heart.  But  the  gleam  of  a  great  joy 
was  breaking  through  his  revery :  even  as 
upon  those  same  tidal  waters,  the  strong, 
sweet  light  of  a  sun  irradiates  its  depths. 
At  last,  he  raised  his  head  and  once  more 
gazed  at  the  piece  of  money  which  had 
found  its  way  into  Phil's  possession. 
Then  he  grew  tenser,  he  bent  again  close 
over  the  coin.  In  a  moment  his  whole 
body  became  rigid,  high-strung  as  his 
beloved  fiddle  when  it  was  ready  to  speak 
out  its  very  soul  in  sound.  Scratched 
faintly,  yet  quite  legibly  upon  the  face  of 
the  bit  of  money  was  a  name  —  yes,  Herr 
Jesu,  the  name  of  Hilda !  This  second 
piece  out  of  dear  old  Hessia  had  been  hers, 
even  as  had  the  first.  They  were  dupli- 
cates ;  the  proof,  was  it  not  complete  ? 
201 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Phil,  Phil,  his  dear,  his  trusty  little  com- 
rade was  - 

His  voice  broke  the  silence  of  the  room, 
where  hitherto  the  only  sound  was  the 
chink,  chink  of  Phil's  money  or  the  snap 
of  Dun's  jaw  as  he  tried  to  entomb  a 
belated  fly.  That  voice  from  the  arm- 
chair was  so  deep,  so  richly  freighted  with 
feeling,  that  the  lad  sitting  among  his 
money  pieces  hardly  recognized  it  as  his 
name  was  called : 

"  Phil,  mein  Kind,  come  thou  here  to 
me.  I  have  somewhat  to  say  to  thee." 

Wonderingly,  the  newsboy  approached : 
he  felt  the  psychic  atmosphere  as  well  as 
if  he  had  been  fine-languaged  in  its  ex- 
pression. 

"  Where  got  you  this  Geld?  " 
'  Why,   where  did  you  get   that,   big 
master  ?      It  was  in  my  bank,  see,  and  I 
took  it  out  yesterday  to  ask  if  it  was  - 
202 


Father  and  Son 


Dutch  or  what  ?  O,  I  catch  on :  it  got 
spilled  with  the  rest  of  'em  and  you 
pinched  it,  hey  ?  " 

The  boy  smiled  his  frank  winning 
smile  and  reached  out  his  hand  for  the 
odd  old  piece. 

"  But  where  came  it  from  —  how  long 
hast  thou  had  it  ?  " 

'  Why,  I  always  had  it  —  long  as  I  can 
remember."  Phil's  eye  darkened,  for  he 
felt  the  suppressed  excitement  of  the 
musician's  manner,  although  he  was  still 
mystified. 

Ludovic  felt  that  he  knew  it  all  now. 
A  holy  duty  was  laid  upon  him  by  the 
curious  workings  of  fate;  a  duty  that 
was  made  precious  and  beautiful  by  love 
-  his  love  for  Hilda  and  for  Phil.  Her 
words  in  her  letter  crept  caressingly  into 
his  mind,  and  softly  he  repeated  them 
now: 

203 


Three  of  a  Kind 


"  And  my  little  boy  babe  here  beside 
me  —  would  to  God  he  could  find  you  ! 
Then  he  would  have  a  friend  for  my  sake." 
For  her  sake,  yes,  but  also  for  his  own, 
for  the  sake  of  his  lonesome  father-heart 
that  might  now  be  filled  and  satisfied.  A 
mighty  cry  burst  from  Ludovic.  He  rose, 
stretched  out  his  arms  wide  to  the  hand- 
some boy  before  him  and  spoke  with  an 
indescribable  yearning  in  his  tone : 

*  Mein  Sohn,  my  boy,  come  to  me, 
thou  art  Hilda's  child.  I  will  be  —  I  am 
-  thy  father.  Gott  Sei  Dank!  After 
many  years  —  after  many  years  !  "  and 
the  dazed  yet  shaken  Phil  was  gathered 
into  an  embrace  that  reclaimed  the  street 
wan0  forever  from  his  homeless  estate  and 
set  him  safe  in  the  harborage  of  a  good 
man's  long-starved  love. 

An  hour  later,  when  he  understood  it  all 
and  Ludovic's  emotions  had  quieted  down 
204 


Father  and  Son 


into  a  glad  peace,  the  throb  of  the  violin 
filled  the  pleasant  evening  room ;  he  was 
playing  a  melody  of  Chopin's,  the  Thir- 
teenth Prelude;  a  composition  which, 
among  all  those  created  by  the  sons  of 
genius,  expresses  perhaps  most  completely 
the  exquisite  gradations  of  sadness  and 
longing  and  utter  content,  and  whose 
deep  calm  chords  are  therefore  like  a 
dropping  of  frankincense  and  myrrh  and 
all  soothing  ointments  upon  the  perturbed 
spirit  of  our  passions  and  our  griefs. 


205 


IX 
A   PAIR    OF    MUMMERS 


A  PAIR   OF 
MUMMERS 


THE   Newsboys*   Protective   Asso- 
ciation    (with    constitution    and 
by-laws    duly    drawn    up    by   a 
lawyer  employed  expressly  for   the  pur- 
pose)   was    fired    by    a   great   ambition. 
They    proposed    to    produce    a .  drama 
for     the     benefit     of     the     organization. 
Most  of  their  members  were  confirmed 
209 


Three  of  a  Kind 


theatre-goers  and  revelled  in  the  mimic 
passions  of  the  stage.  Indeed,  the  Italian 
contingent  among  these  knights  of  the 
newspaper  had  their  own  marionette 
playhouse,  where  they  might  listen  any 
evening  to  the  epic  history  of  the  loves 
and  wars  of  the  heroes  of  their  race. 
Others  haunted  the  vaudeville  galleries  or 
were  habitues  of  the  melodrama,  and  all 
loved  the  "  show  "  as  a  form  of  entertain- 
ment. They  had  most  definite  ideas  as 
to  the  right  conductment  of  a  drama  and 
their  judgments  were  of  a  spotless 
morality. 

Moreover,  a  general  interest  in  the 
actor's  art  and  the  significance  of  the 
theatre  as  an  educational  institution,  was 
in  the  air  among  all  classes  at  the  time, 
and  even  these  Arabs  of  the  paper  in- 
dustry had  caught  the  contagion.  They 
were  aided  and  abetted  in  their  laudable 
210 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


desire  by  the  sundry  Mission  Chapels 
and  Social  Settlements  with  which  they 
were,  perforce,  in  touch.  The  charming 
young  ladies  who  conducted  these  philan- 
thropic efforts,  were  eager  to  exhibit  the 
histrionic  ability  of  their  "  boys  "  in  good 
plays,  as  a  civilizing  influence  upon  the 
youngsters  and  an  innocent  means  of 
enlisting  the  interest  of  their  fashionable 
friends  in  work  dear  to  their  hearts,  and 
perhaps  swelling  the  exchequer  of  some 
worthy  charity.  Theatricals,  in  a  word, 
were  distinctly  the  thing,  and  sociology 
and  society  linked  hands  in  the  cause. 
Talk  of  a  people's  theatre  was  heard  on 
every  hand;  those  who  called  the  play- 
house ihe-ayter  were  no  less  enthusiastic 
than  those  who  affected  Ibsen  and  Shaw, 
and  were  studious  of  the  modern  tech- 
nique and  teaching. 

So,  the  newsboys  had  decided  to  enter 
211 


Three  of  a  Kind 


the  dramatic  field  themselves,  and  quite 
independent  of  other  influence,  aid  or 
direction.  They  rejected  with  some  hau- 
teur an  attempt  on  the  part  of  pretty  Miss 
Arlington  of  the  Bow  Street  settlement 
to  get  them  to  enact  a  dramatization, 
cleverly  made  by  herself,  of  Mark  Twain's 
*  The  Prince  and  the  Pauper,"  preferring 
to  concoct  or  otherwise  procure  their  own 
dramatic  vehicle  and  put  on  the  play 
themselves.  It  was  with  just  a  touch  of 
patronage  that  they  informed  Miss  Arling- 
ton, to  whom  they  were  absolutely  de- 
voted, that  at  some  future  time  it  would 
be  their  pleasure  to  cooperate  with  her 
in  such  an  undertaking:  at  present  they 
had  other  fish  to  fry.  Deep  down  in 
their  very  human  hearts  lay  the  wish  to 
show  the  upper  world  that  when  it  came 
to  bona-fide  dramatic  gift,  the  boy  of  the 
street  was  no  second-class  article. 
212 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


"  If  dey  can  beat  dat,"  remarked  one  of 
their  number  who  had  been  conducting  a 
rehearsal  of  the  coming  play,  during 
which  his  time  had  been  equally  divided 
between  watching  the  stage  and  the  en- 
trance door  to  see  that  no  one  "  did  a 
sneak  "  and  so  anticipated  the  raptures 
of  two  weeks  hence :  "If  dev  can  beat 

«/ 

dat,  dey'll  have  to  be  goin'  some.  Hully 
gee,  it  was  fine  when  Dun  got  the  word 
and  come  tru  de  wall,"  -  which  remark 
will  have  more  meaning  as  we  come  to 
describe  the  histrionic  offering. 

From  the  first,  Phil  had  been  prominent 
in  the  association  councils  concerning 
this  plan.  He  had  been  appointed  one  of 
a  Committee  of  Five  to  select  the  drama 
of  the  evening,  and  had  been  regarded, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  as  one  of  the  actors 
from  whom  to  make  up  the  cast.  Shivers 
had  run  up  and  down  the  Association's 
213 


Three  of  a  Kind 


spine  lest  the  lad's  accident  should  inter- 
fere with  his  availability  for  their  pur- 
poses ;  there  had  been  a  postponement  of 
date  until  he  should  be  happily  recovered. 
For  Phil  had  proved  his  capacity  in  a 
previous  performance,  when,  as  a  swash- 
buckler German  baron  who  had  rescued 
a  Madchen  from  the  machinations  of  a 
nest  of  robbers  in  the  nick  of  time,  he  had 
aroused  intense  enthusiasm  at  a  mission 
entertainment.  But  there  was  another 
reason  for  giving  him  a  leading  part: 
namely,  he  was  the  master,  or  joint  master, 
of  Dun.  The  whole  dramatic  venture 
had  been  planned  in  order  that  the  dog. 
so  to  express  it,  might  be  the  protagonist 
of  the  piece.  The  literary  hack  who  had 
been  hired  to  write  the  drama  (for  in  all 
the  printed  plays  nothing  could  be  found 
to  answer  their  needs),  had  received  ex- 
plicit and  emphatic  instructions  to  make 
214 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


it  center  in  and  about  Phil's  four-footed 
friend.  Hence,  in  "  Walled  up  Alive ;  or 
a  Dog  to  the  Rescue  "  the  eternal  princi- 
ples of  dramaturgy  had  been  deemed 
quite  secondary  to  this  desired  end:  an 
end,  it  may  be  added,  attained  by  the 
playwright  entirely  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  Newsboys'  Protective  Association, 
as  represented  by  the  Committee  of  Five. 
Phil  in  particular  was  fairly  dazzled  by 
the  opportunity  for  a  climactic  scene 
offered  him  and  Dun  by  the  dramatist. 
The  boys  had  paid  the  latter  fifteen 
dollars  for  his  work  without  the  slightest 
expression  of  criticism  over  an  excessive 
charge,  albeit  it  was  rumored  that  the 
rival  bootblacks  had  once  secured  a  to- 
order  play  at  a  figure  that  (this  was 
darkly  whispered)  made  the  fifteen  dol- 
lars seem  plutocratic.  But  the  newsboys 
fell  complacently  back  upon  the  thought 
215 


Three  of  a  Kind 


that  if  you  want  a  good  thing,  you  must 
pay  for  it. 

An  Odd  Fellows'  Hall,  with  walls  em- 
bellished in  such  spectacular  wise  as  to 
threaten  rivalry  with  what  might  be  dis- 
played upon  the  stage,  had  been  secured 
at  half  rates  for  the  evening;  rehearsals 
were  in  order,  costumes  were  being  dis- 
cussed and  planned;  Phil  had  had 
several  deliberations  wTith  Ludovic  about 
his  make-up  and  dress,  and  had  found  the 
German's  advice  invaluable.  Ludovic, 
by  the  way,  had  not  only  promised  to  play 
the  fiddle  on  the  great  night,  but  to  secure 
the  aid  of  two  other  musicians,  friends  of 
his,  both  of  whom,  he  engaged  should, 
like  himself,  tender  their  services  free. 
The  newsboys  swelled  with  pride  at  Phil's 
announcement  of  this  news.  With  a 
hired  piano  player  and  a  gratis  fiddle, 
'cello  and  flute  to  assist  him,  they  would 
216 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


have  an  orchestra  to  make  competing 
entertainments  green  with  jealousy :  the 
Arcanum  of  United  Bootblacks,  for  ex- 
ample, an  effete  organization  of  (very) 
young  men  with  dirty  hands  and  too  active 
mouths,  wTho  actually  had  the  effrontery 
to  hold  their  meetings  in  the  same  Odd 
Fellows'  Hall  —  though,  it  hardly  is  nec- 
essary to  add,  not  on  the  same  night  of 
the  week. 

To  say  that  Dun  welcomed  this  oppor- 
tunity for  histrionic  display  would  be 
understatement:  he  revelled  in  it.  If 
this  chronicle  has  already  conveyed  the 
idea  that  he  was  an  ultra-modest  animal, 
such  has  not  been  the  author's  intention. 
Not  that  Dun  was  an  egotist;  not  at  all. 
But  who,  whether  man  or  beast,  could 
suddenly  be  lifted  into  the  dizzy  position 
of  leading  man  of  a  promising  company 
without  some  effect  upon  his  amour 
217 


Three  of  a  Kind 


propre  ?  It  went  to  Dun's  head  —  and 
tail.  He  was  frantically  important  and 
importunate  at  rehearsals  and  was  re- 
strained only  by  force  from  assuming  all 
the  other  parts  besides  his  own.  His 
main  fault  as  a  Thespian  was  this  ten- 
dency to  over-act:  in  the  expressive  if 
inelegant  parlance  of  the  boards,  he  in- 
clined to  "  hog  "  his  part;  he  wished  to 
take  the  center  of  the  stage  all  the  time. 
To  make  this  plainer,  the  plot  of  the  pro- 
posed play  may  now  be  outlined. 

The  scene  was  laid  in  Italy;  perhaps 
the  Italian  influence  in  the  Association 
had  something  to  do  with  the  setting, 
for  the  playwright  had  been  so  instructed ; 
but  over  and  beyond  this,  the  locale  ap- 
pealed to  those  concerned  as  being  far 
away,  picturesque,  romantic.  We  all 
know  the  potency  of  the  poetry  of  the  past, 
and  newsboys  are  only  human  beings  in 
218 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


this  respect.  Italy  offered  superlative 
opportunities  for  costume  and  scenery, 
and  there  was  to  be  no  stinting  in  these 
particulars.  A  brand  new  drop  scene 
showing  a  dismal  mountain  gorge  as  an 
environment  for  banditti,  was  being 
painted  expressly  for  this  production  by 
Joe  Hannis,  whose  pictorial  labors  were 
alternately  devoted  to  the  drama  and  the 
painting  of  signs  when  orders  for  the  for- 
mer work  languished.  For  the  play's 
climax,  which  demanded  the  dungeon 
cell  of  a  castle,  a  proper  scene  had  been 
luckily  found  ready  to  hand  in  the  store 
room  of  a  stock  company  house.  As  for 
wardrobe,  a  costumer  had  been  given 
carte  blanche  to  fit  out  the  drama. 

The   story  —  for   after   all,    the   play's 
the    thing  —  dealt   with    the    attempt    to 
kidnap  Francia  Frigoletti  (Phil),  a  high- 
born, beautiful  lad  brought  up  by  and 
219 


Three  of  a  Kind 


living  with  humble  peasants  as  their  dear 
son.  The  villain  of  the  piece,  learning 
of  his  aristocratic  birth,  conceives  the 
highly  original  scheme  of  stealing  the  boy 
and,  while  he  is  in  durance  vile,  communi- 
cating with  his  lawful  parents  and  de- 
manding a  goodly  sum  of  money  for  his 
return,  when  the  proof  of  his  origin  has 
been  submitted. 

But  when  the  much  abused  Francia  is 
thus  confined  in  a  dungeon  deep  and  dark, 
piteously  unaware  of  what  it  is  all  about, 
his  favorite  dog  —  ha  !  don't  you  hear 
the  tremolo  in  the  orchestra,  as  the  situa- 
tion is  about  to  begin  to  draw  near  ?  — 
his  dog,  who  has  been  rather  charily 
introduced  in  the  earlier  pastoral  scenes 
for  fear  that  in  his  zeal  he  would  anticipate 
the  climax,  has  scented  his  way  for 
weary  miles  from  peasant  hut  to  donjon 
keep  (that  is  understood  to  be  the  proper 
220 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


expression),  and  under  his  unerring 
guidance  the  sturdy  peasant  with  a  band 
of  good  neighbors  is  hammering  on  the 
thick  wall  of  the  tower  (another  name  for 
the  donjon  keep)  wherein  Francia  is 
trying  to  sleep.  It  is  the  deep  of  night  - 
which  is  a  habit  with  these  rescue  scenes. 
After  the  noise  has  gone  on  awhile, 
Francia  not  unnaturally  wakes  up;  in 
fact,  the  only  unnatural  thing  is  that  he 
is  unconscious  so  long  under  the  circum- 
stances. No  doubt  he  is  overwrought 
with  long  vigils.  .  Once  awake,  trem- 
blingly he  awaits  the  issue.  Is  it  rescue  ? 
Mayhap  his  enemies  are  come  to  torture 
him !  He  says  some  words  to  that  effect. 
Hardly  could  he  speak  because  of  the 
suspense.  But  good  cheer,  little  Francia, 
it  is  always  darkest  just  before  day : 
which  is  to  say,  it  is  always  noisiest  just 
before  the  climax.  List !  That  sound, 
221 


Three  of  a  Kind 


was't  not  a  dog's  bark?  Louder,  clearer, 
it  comes  from  the  other  side  of  the  wall. 
God  in  heaven,  they  are  nearly  through 
the  massy  stone !  But  now,  silence ;  a 
cessation  of  sound.  Can  it  be  they  have 
quit?  Francia  lifts  imploring  hands  to 
the  (stage)  skies  that  blackly  loom  above 
saint  and  sinner  alike  —  except  in  melo- 
drama. No  !  they  are  at  it  again.  Now, 
see !  a  brick  falls  in.  Two,  three,  many 
bricks.  A  hole !  Then  a  bigger  hole,  a 
murmur  of  voices ;  louder  and  yet  louder. 
Fortissimo  from  the  orchestra.  And 
then  —  what  is  this  ?  Yes,  no,  yes,  it  is 
a  faithful  dog  (the  brickiest  brick  of 
them  all)  who  squirms  his  way  through 
the  orifice  as  yet  too  small  for  the  human 
body,  and  with  frantic  barks  leaps  upon 
the  stage  —  we  mean  the  horrid,  damp 
floor  of  the  dungeon  —  and  rushes  to 
Francia.  The  boy  on  his  knees  embraces 
222 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


his  brute  savior,  who  covers  his  face  with 
kisses  and  fairly  writhes  with  ecstasy  and 
doggy  pride.  In  pour  the  rescuing  hu- 
mans —  the  hole  becoming  large  enough 
with  suspicious  promptness :  they  range 
themselves  in  the  proper  attitude,  the 
peasant  father  to  the  fore.  Tableau  ! 

It  was  the  firm  conviction  of  all  con- 
cerned, based  upon  the  effect  pulled  off 
at  the  rehearsals,  that  this  scene  would 
sweep  the  house.  Certainly  it  would 
make  or  break  the  play. 

Of  course  the  rest  is  easy  to  guess.  The 
peasant  has  secured  the  birth  proof  - 
how,  is  the  dramatist's  business  —  a  mere 
detail,  —  from  the  kidnapper  villain.  He 
takes  Francia  to  his  select  parents,  re- 
ceives an  enormous  reward  for  his 
honesty  (the  dramatist  recks  not  for  stage 
money),  Francia  becomes  a  little  noble- 
man with  a  hair-cut  and  frills  on  his  shirt 
223 


Three  of  a  Kind 


front.  An  arrangement  is  made  (Heaven 
forbid  that  the  noble  peasant,  his  faithful 
wife  and  the  little  Sylvia,  their  daughter, 
who  loved  Francia  so  tenderly,  should  be 
bereaved  of  their  son-brother-lover  for- 
ever), whereby  Francia  shall  spend  four 
months  of  every  blessed  year  with  his 
dear  foster  parents :  the  other  eight  being 
devoted  to  real  high  life.  It  is  even 
hinted,  at  the  final  curtain,  by  the  play- 
wright, who  has  a  splendid  heart,  what- 
ever his  lapses  in  technique,  that  some 
day  (with  apologies  to  Signor  Tosti  and 
lyric  strains  from  the  orchestra  of  three) 
Francia  and  Sylvia  may  be  wedded, 
honest  worth  win  out,  love  triumph  over 
rank,  true  hearts  prove  more  than  coro- 
nets, and  several  other  mottoes  to  the 
same  general  effect. 

We  trust  that  the  merits  of  this  bit  of 
dramaturgy,  its  firm  grasp  upon  the  feel- 
224 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


ings   of   its   auditor,   are   sufficiently   ap- 
parent from  this  anticipatory  sketch. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  great  evening 
itself.  Everything  promised  brilliant  suc- 
cess. The  actors  had  worked  over  time 
and  were  letter-perfect  in  their  parts  two 
days  before  the  performance  —  a  most 
unusual  condition  of  affairs  in  amateur 
theatricals.  The  long  labor  of  Phil  with 
Dun  had  resulted  better  even  than  they 
had  dared  to  hope.  The  sagacious  little 
fellow  went  through  his  allotted  tasks  like 
clockwork.  It  has  been  said  that  animals, 
-  horses  in  battle,  for  example,  —  when 
once  they  have  learned  the  mechanism  of 
their  duty,  can  be  trusted  to  carry  it 
through  more  smoothly  than  men.  So  it 
seemed  in  the  case  of  Dun. 

It  had  been  unanimously  decided   to 
dispense    with    the    usual    full-dress    re- 
hearsal, on   the  ground  of  avoiding  the 
225 


Three  of  a  Kind 


extra  expense.  They  were  to  have  a  pro- 
fessional to  make  them  up,  and  with  the 
stage  properly  set,  went  through  the 
piece  to  perfection  without  the  prelimi- 
nary use  of  grease  paints,  wigs  and  all  the 
glitter  of  mediaeval  garb. 

The  Odd  Fellows'  Hall  bore  a  festive 
aspect  ten  minutes  before  the  curtain 
rose  on  that  memorable  night.  Seats 
had  sold  beyond  desire's  fondest  dreams. 
The  actors  were  on  the  qui  vive  of  excite- 
ment, the  audience  scarcely  less  so.  Be- 
hind the  curtain,  the  young  players  had 
to  be  warned  from  poking  their  fingers 
and  noses  through  the  green  baize  in  the 
mad  wish  to  count  the  attendance  or 
recognize  friends.  The  newsboy  colony 
had  been  that  day  so  distrait  to  life's 
ordinary  occupations,  that  false  change 
was  freely  made,  and  several  youngsters 
had  absent-mindedly  called  morning  edi- 
226 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


tions  after  twelve  o'clock.  The  one  per- 
son who  exhibited  all  the  tonic  of  whole- 
some excitement  without  the  flurry  and 
worry  usually  incident  thereto  was  Dun. 
It  is  one  of  the  many  advantages  of  man's 
superior  intellect,  that  while  the  brutes 
get  the  fun  unalloyed  with  fear,  Man,  his 
younger  brother,  because  of  his  wretched 
habit  of  self-consciousness,  must  have  his 
bad  quarter  of  an  hour  whenever  he 
aspires  to  do  something  well  and  conse- 
quently doubts  his  ability  to  do  it.  Dun 
had  no  doubts,  no  fears.  He  could  act, 
and  he  knew  it;  and  he  loved  it  better 
than  eating. 

Society  was  fully  represented  on  the 
occasion.  There  were  high  lights  of 
costume  scattered  through  the  house,  one 
heard  a  frou  frou  of  fans,  and  was  aware 
of  the  delicate  aroma  of  full  dress.  Not 
charitable  motives  alone  but  the  unique 
227 


Three  of  a  Kind 


touch  given  by  the  presence  of  a  dog  in 
the  cast  had  stimulated  interest  and  in- 
creased the  attendance.  This  element 
was  confined  to  the  impromptu  boxes, 
and  the  high-priced  front  seats.  For  the 
rest,  the  Newsboys'  Protective  Associa- 
tion in  serried  rows  taxed  the  place  to  its 
capacity.  Perhaps  the  house  was  the 
larger  because  of  a  ten-stroke  in  the  way 
of  advance  advertising:  a  poster  in  three 
colors  which  displayed  Dun's  flying  leap 
through  the  wall  in  the  great  rescue  scene. 
True,  the  bill-board  artist  had  departed 
broadly  from  the  accepted  (not  to  say  ac- 
ceptable) cocker  physiognomy ;  in  fact, 
there  had  been  some  debates  among  the 
boys  whether  the  animal  as  exhibited 
would  pass  for  a  cat  or  a  dog.  Pears  had 
been  stilled,  however,  by  a  remark  of 
Billy  Sales  to  the  effect  that  any  chump  'd 
know  as  how  no  cat  couldn't  rescue  no- 
228 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


body,  not  even  if  the  party  had  cream  on 
his  whiskers.  Besides,  didn't  the  second- 
ary name  of  the  piece,  "  A  Dog  to  the 
Rescue,"  indicate  the  species  of  the 
animal?  It  was  felt  that  Billy's  logic 
was  irrefutable,  and  doubtful  physiology 
ruled  supreme  from  the  bill-boards. 

At  last  came  that  rapt  moment  before 
the  rise  of  the  curtain.  The  tension  was 
so  acute  it  could  almost  be  handled  and 
seen.  Ludovic,  tuning  up  in  the  diminu- 
tive but  loyal  orchestra,  after  playing  the 
overture,  confessed,  sotto  voce,  to  con- 
siderable nervousness.  How  will  Phil 
conduct  himself  ?  Can  Dun  be  trusted 
with  his  cue  ?  Hush !  The  green  baize 
rises  to  reveal  the  mimic  world  behind  it. 
There  is  the  usual  pleasurable  buzz 
through  the  house ;  but  this  deepens  until 
it  swells  into  uproarious  applause  when 
all  eyes  have  taken  in  the  neat  little  hut  of 
229 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Francia's  bogus  parents,  set  in  a  thick 
boskage  —  a  convenient  word  we  borrow 
from  Spenser  —  before  which  are  dis- 
covered Francia  and  Sylvia,  who  embrace 
lovingly  as  they  sit  upon  a  nice  mossy  log 
beside  a  purling  stream.  We  hasten  to 
add  that  Sylvia  is  played  by  the  afore- 
mentioned Mr.  Sales,  who,  to  decided 
dramatic  aptitude,  adds  the  valuable  stage 
asset  of  a  pink  and  white  prettiness  which 
was  the  bane  of  his  life  and  the  cause  of 
constant  guying  from  his  fellows. 

As  for  Francia,  —  really,  you  never 
would  have  known  him.  His  velvet  cloak, 
plumed  hat,  silver-buckled  shoes  and 
black  silk  stockings,  his  rouge  and  grease 
paint,  and,  crowning  feature,  his  beautiful 
blonde  wig,  changed  him  so  completely 
that  even  his  chums  failed  at  first  to 
recognize  him  and  Ludovic  from  his  point 
of  vantage  in  the  orchestra  wTas  puzzled 
230 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


for  a  moment.  It  may  be  interpolated 
here  that  for  the  son  of  a  peasant  the 
above  costume  does  not  seem  congruous. 
But  please  do  justice  to  the  playwright: 
he  wishes  to  indicate  to  the  audience, 
pictorially,  through  the  medium  of  clothes, 
much  as  Wagner  indicates  personality  by 
the  use  of  the  leit-motiv  in  the  world  of 
tone,  that  this  is  no  common  boy;  he 
would  have  his  aristocratic  birth  shine 
through  his  humble  surroundings,  —  and 
how  secure  this  result  better  than  by 
dressing  the  part?  Besides,  Sylvia,  who 
is  only  a  woman,  likes  him  all  the  more 
for  his  little  Lord  Fauntleroy  knee- 
breeches. 

The  play  proceeds.  Everything  goes 
smoothly.  The  young  mummers'  re- 
markably fine  work  is  commented  on  by 
the  fashionable  auditors;  in  especial  do 
they  praise  its  natural  quality,  its  freedom 
231 


Three  of  a  Kind 


from  self -consciousness.  The  touch  in 
the  first  act  where  Sylvia  places  a  basket 
of  lunch  in  Dun's  mouth  as  she  and  Phil 
start  for  a  day's  excursion  in  a  near-by 
rocky  gorge  (where,  of  course,  the  abduc- 
tion is  to  take  place  —  you  have  got  to  get 
them  there  somehow,  and  what  more 
natural  than  a  picnic  a  trois,  —  Sylvia, 
Francia  and  Dun?),  this  early  incident 
of  the  drama  elicited  such  strong  approval 
as  would  have  made  a  Building  Commis- 
sion fear  for  the  integrity  of  the  floors. 
The  lights  seemed  fairly  to  twinkle  with 
the  clamor.  There  was  no  doubt  about 
it,  Dun  as  a  player  was  to  be  the  hit  of  the 
piece.  It  was  noticed,  however,  at  this 
point  by  those  who  were  cool  and  analytic 
(always  a  pitiable  few  in  a  theatre)  that 
the  dog  revealed  a  curious  inability  to  pick 
out  his  friends  on  the  stage,  unless  he 
came  near  enough  to  smell  them. 
232 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


In  the  second  act,  the  abduction  took 
place,  con  brio,  as  the  musicians  would 
say.  Understand  that  this  is  a  five-act 
drama;  our  dramatist  did  not  propose 
to  earn  his  money  easy,  cheating  his 
patrons  by  any  of  the  new-fangled  Ibsen 
device  of  three  acts  and  out.  Not  he.  He 
gave  full  measure,  after  the  good  old  ro- 
mantic formula ;  he  believed  that  it  takes 
five  acts  to  make  a  play  quite  as  truly 
as  it  takes  nine  tailors  to  make  a  man. 
The  second  act,  then,  passed  off  with 
great  smoothness;  it  contained  a  very 
pathetic  scene  near  the  close,  where  the 
bereft  girl,  flanked  by  her  parents,  cries 
her  eyes  out  at  the  loss  of  her  dear  little 
mate,  and  the  dog  pokes  his  nose  sympa- 
thetically into  her  hand,  after  wandering 
about  the  stage  from  person  to  person, 
again  rather  vaguely,  as  if  not  quite  sure 
of  his  bearings.  Before  this  spectacle, 
233 


Three  of  a  Kind 


more  than  one  hardened  urchin  was 
moved  to  the  snivels;  a  well  known 
society  woman  was  heard  in  the  stressed 
stillness  to  declare  that  "  it  was  really 
charming  —  quite  touching  and  novel, 
you  know,"  —  for  which,  not  being  at  the 
Opera,  she  was,  to  her  very  great  surprise, 
promptly  hissed. 

Act  third,  dealt  with  the  robbers  in 
their  fastnesses  and  displayed  their  cruel 
maltreatment  of  Francia  prior  to  his 
incarceration  and  abandonment.  It 
wrought  the  newsboys  to  such  a  pitch  of 
righteous  wrath  that  a  descent  from  the 
gallery  for  the  purpose  of  setting  right 
the  evil  that  men  do  seemed  imminent; 
if  the  playwright  couldn't  manage  it,  the 
gallery  could.  However,  they  restrained 
themselves,  and  nothing  worse  than  a 
storm  of  hisses,  stampings  and  cat  calls 
greeted  the  fall  of  the  curtain  after  the 
234 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


exit  of  the  banditti,  leaving  the  boy  in  his 
lonely  prison  cell. 

Then,  at  last,  came  the  fourth  act,  with 
its  earth-shaking  situation,  the  crescendo 
and  climax  of  all  their  efforts  for  strenuous 
weeks.  Thus  far,  all  had  gone  to  admira- 
tion. The  players  had  outdone  them- 
selves, there  had  been  no  hitch  or  mishap 
with  the  scenery,  rarely  had  the  voice  of 
the  prompter  been  heard  in  the  land. 
Now  for  the  big  rescue  scene.  Francia- 
Phil,  on  a  settle  at  left,  drooped  in  anguish 
at  the  weird  midnight  hour.  Suddenly, 
he  lifted  his  head.  Presciently,  he  has 
become  aware  of  some  sound  without,  at 
first  too  faint  for  the  audience  to  hear,  — 
ah,  both  actor  and  audience  hear  it  now : 
A  dull  recurrent  thud,  thud,  thud.  Then 
the  "  business  "  of  fear,  despair,  hope  in 
alternation  was  admirably  depicted  by 
Francia-Phil.  When  the  first  bark  came, 
235 


Three  of  a  Kind 


you  could  feel  the  thrill  go  all  over  the 
house.  One  young  man  of  over-vaulting 
imagination  hurrahs  in  advance,  to  be 
vigorously  squelched  by  those  nearest. 

The  great  moment  has  come.  Francia- 
Phil  is  up  from  his  seat,  looking  eagerly 
towards  the  part  of  the  wall  at  back  center 
which  seems  to  be  shaken  by  the  mysteri- 
ous onslaught.  In  tumble  the  bricks,  the 
aperture  is  exposed,  and  Dun,  urged  as 
usual  from  behind,  and  willing  as  ever, 
half  leaps,  half  tumbles  upon  the  stage. 
And  then  —  horrors  !  The  best-laid  plans 
of  men  and  mummers  gang  aft  agley. 
Instead  of  rushing  to  Phil  as  he  had 
steadily  done  at  rehearsals,  the  little  black 
cocker  (looking  oh,  so  black  with  the  spot 
light  full  on  him)  stands  as  though  dazed ; 
he  blinks  at  the  footlights,  which  are  abso- 
lutely a  new  effect  to  him ;  he  looks  to  the 
stranger  at  left;  he  half  hears  Ludovic's 
236 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


low,  pleading  voice  in  front:  :*  Go  thou 
to  him,  Dun,  bleibst  nicht  da,"  and  it 
but  adds  to  his  confusion.  Alas,  that 
omitted  dress  rehearsal !  Phil  in  paint  and 
powder,  is  not  his  Phil  at  all;  he  does 
not  go  near  enough  to  scent  his  young 
master.  Even  the  other's  fierce  calls  to 
him  are  drowned  out  by  the  mad  fortis- 
simo of  the  orchestra  playing  up  to  the 
climax.  And  so,  after  one  awful  moment 
of  wavering  wonder,  Dun  turns  sideways 
and  legs  it  for  the  flies,  and  then,  amidst 
a  confusion  of  cries  and  stage  directions, 
the  curtain  is  dropped. 

All  the  same,  although  Phil  is  openly 
crying  in  his  dressing  room,  and  Dun, 
crouching  beside  him  is  cognizant  of  the 
fact  that  something  is  all  wrong,  he  does 
not  quite  know  what,  the  fiasco  has  made 
a  hit  in  its  way  with  the  house.  The 
parquet  rocks  with  laughter.  The  tiers 
237 


Three  of  a  Kind 


hoot  their  delight.  For,  be  it  remembered, 
the  audience  is  not  aware  of  the  eclat  of 
the  climax  as  planned;  to  it,  the  touch 
of  nature  shown  by  a  dog  dazed  by  being 
thrust  into  the  dazzle  of  the  footlights  — 
to  say  nothing  of  being  ejected  through  a 
four-foot  wall  —  is  of  itself  worth  the 
price  of  admission,.  Round  after  round 
of  applause  compelled  Phil,  with  his 
hand  at  the  collar  of  his  reluctant  com- 
panion, and  feeling  full  as  sheepish  him- 
self, to  appear  and  bow  his  thanks  for 
them  both.  And  the  happy  ending  of 
the  fifth  and  final  act,  which  was  a 
miracle  of  smoothness,  sent  everybody 
home  happy :  once  more  in  these  de- 
generate days  a  playwright,  in  his  manipu- 
lation of  events,  stood  forth  as  opposed 
to  the  newer  fashion  of  misery  as  a  means 
of  pleasure.  The  Newsboys'  Protective 
Association  too,  when  it  came  to  estimate 
238 


A  Pair  of  Mummers 


its  receipts,  was  gleeful  over  the  sub- 
stantial sum  of  upwards  of  two  hundred 
dollars  in  its  treasury. 

But  the  iron  had  entered  Phil's  soul. 
In  spite  of  the  warm  praise  that  fell  to 
him  from  the  lips  of  his  fellows  and  in 
the  columns  of  newspapers,  it  was  days 
and  weeks  before  he  could  recover  from 
a  sense  of  mortification  at  the  contretemps 
in  act  four  of  "Walled  up  Alive."  If 
they  could  only  have  seen  Dun  in  re- 
hearsals, he  would  say  to  himself  as  he 
was  dropping  off  to  sleep;  and  perhaps, 
though  he  did  not  so  express  it,  he  reflected 
that  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  all 
good  art. 

Meanwhile,  Dun,  stretched  at  length  on 
his  prayer  rug,  slept  the  dreamless  sleep 
of  the  just  and  blamed  himself  not  a  bit 
for  what  had  happened.  Indeed,  when 
you  come  to  think  of  it,  why  should  he, 
239 


Three  of  a  Kind 


when  it  was  the  fault  of  others  ?  Had 
they  but  accustomed  him  to  Francia 
plume-hatted  and  becloaked,  all  had  been 
well.  And  Dun  drew  a  deeper,  intercostal 
breath  and  rolled  over  into  a  more  com- 
fortable position  for  slumber. 


240 


X 

CHRISTMAS    EVE 


CHRISTMAS  EVE 


A  REMARK  ABLE  metamorphosis 
was   to  be  observed   in  the   top- 
floor     apartment     inhabited     by 
Mr.     Ludovic     Heffner,     Master     Phil 
Heffner,  and  Master  Dun  Heffner.     The 
family  was  "  at  home  "  —  very  much  at 
home.    It  was  not  so  much   a   coming- 
out  party  as  a  going-out  party.     For  it 
243 


Three  of  a  Kind 


was  Christmas  Eve,  and  the  musician, 
radiant  in  his  new-come  joy  and  filled 
with  the  idea  not  only  of  properly  celebrat- 
ing the  dear  season  —  the  heiliger  Abend 
of  his  native  land  —  but  also  the  return 
of  their  good  fortune  and  the  finding  of  a 
son,  had  been  planning  for  a  week  or  more 
for  this  evening's  entertainment.  Phil 
had  most  ably  cooperated  in  the  prepara- 
tions, and  now,  arrayed  in  their  best, 
they  awaited  the  event  that  should  repay 
all  their  labor. 

The  dining-table  was  pushed  aside 
from  the  middle  place  it  usually  occupied, 
and  in  its  stead  towered  a  splendiferous 
Christmas  tree,  fittingly  decked  with 
spangles  and  wax  candles :  pendent  from 
its  boughs  of  rich  green  hung  various 
packages  gaily  done  up  in  tri-colored 
paper  and  really  making  a  brave  show  in 
the  dancing  fire-light  (a  truly  holiday 
244 


Christmas  Eve 


blaze  came  from  the  deep-bosomed 
hearth)  and  from  the  extra  gas  illumina- 
tion. Considering  the  resources  of  the 
house  of  Heffner  and  the  seemingly 
limited  number  of  beneficiaries  it  boasted, 
the  general  display  impressed  you  as  al- 
most overwhelming.  The  apartment  was 
wondrously  swept  and  garnished,  and  you 
could  but  note  that  spick-and-span  neat- 
ness which  is  the  delight  of  a  certain 
kind  of  woman  soul,  but  the  despair 
of  easy-going  bachelordom.  For  once 
in  a  way,  however,  that  truly  femi- 
nine effect  had  been  striven  for  strenu- 
ously and  successfully  in  a  place  not, 
as  a  rule,  conspicuous  for  such  ideals. 
Perhaps  Ludovic  thus  compounded  with 
his  conscience  for  past  sins. 

Sprigs  of  holly  and  bright  bunches  of 
hawthorn  were  stuck  about  the  room  in 
all  available  coigns  of  vantage;    on  the 
245 


Three  of  a  Kind 


table  reposed  a  fat  jolly  looking  beer 
keg,  the  spigot  ready  to  turn,  flanked  by 
sundry  hospitable  mugs  and  steins : 
edibles  of  a  strictly  German  complexion 
were  also  spread  upon  the  kindly  board, 
which,  if  it  did  not  groan  with  these 
dainties,  remained  silent  only  because,  in 
our  unimaginative  days,  tables  are  not  so 
vocal  as  in  the  dear  old  Past.  Here  were 
ranged  the  black  bread  and  pumper- 
nickel of  their  host's  affection;  together 
with  Schinken,  Leberwurst,  a  glorious 
potato  salad  —  the  piece  de  resistance  of 
the  repast  —  and  Kuchen  of  various  kinds 
and  special  relishes  particularly  loved  by 
the  violinist;  it  was  obvious  from  the 
amount  and  variety  of  the  viands,  to  say 
nothing  of  their  markedly  Teutonic  tend- 
ency, that  company  was  expected. 

As  master  of  the  revels  the  musician 
wore  a  long  black  coat  seen  only  upon  gala 
246 


Christinas  Eve 


occasions,  and  a  frilled  white  shirt  which, 
with  its  rolling  Byronic  collar,  was  very 
becoming  to  its  possessor.  A  fresh  white 
nosegay  was  in  his  button-hole,  and  with 
his  dark  eloquent  face  beneath  its  nimbus 
of  ample  gray  hair  he  looked  foreign,  dis- 
tinguished, certainly  point  device  in  his 
attire. 

Phil's  face  shone  with  an  extra  scrub- 
bing and  he  moved  a  little  consciously  in 
a  neat  suit,  too  new  to  be  altogether  com- 
fortable, but  worn  with  a  sort  of  happy 
martyrdom. 

But  the  expression  of  Christmas  senti- 
ment found  its  culmination,  its  very 
apotheosis,  in  the  person  of  Dun.  A 
brand  new  and  very  shiny  silver  collar 
circled  his  neck  and  (to  his  secret  embar- 
rassment, though  he  strove  hard  to  carry 
it  off  with  a  nonchalance  as  who  should 
say:  "  We  do  it  every  day  !  ")  branching 
247 


Three  of  a  Kind 


antler-like  from  the  collar  were  tiny  sprigs 
of  holly ;  while,  as  if  this  were  not  enough, 
a  streamer  of  intertwined  red  and  white 
ribbon  trailed  therefrom  sideways  along 
the  floor,  to  the  imminent  risk  of  tripping 
the  dog  or  of  being  torn  off  in  his  gyra- 
tions. Against  such  mishap  he  was 
watched  by  Phil  with  the  eye  of  a  lynx  for 
any  sign  of  distress. 

When  at  the  elect  hour  of  six-thirty 
(for  several  of  the  guests  had  evening 
occupations)  the  first  knock  came,  Dun 
was  set  by  the  table  on  his  hind  legs  and, 
as  part  of  a  program  painfully  rehearsed 
between  him  and  Phil  through  the  previ- 
ous week,  began  to  paw  in  welcome  to  the 
arriving  guests,  accompanying  this  gesture 
by  a  polite  bark:  never  more  proudly 
did  a  lackey  of  fashion  call  names  at  the 
drawing-room  door  of  the  great.  The 
guests  in  turn  gravely  responded  by  shak- 
248 


Christmas  Eve 


ing  Dun's  forepaw.  First  to  come  were 
several  of  Phil's  cronies  of  the  newspaper 
fraternity ;  pleasant-faced  youngsters, 
in  spite  of  their  immersement  in  news- 
horrors  :  all  of  them  on  the  qui  vive  at  the 
rumor  that  their  friend  had  found  not  only 
a  protector  but  parent,  and  unhesitatingly 
preferring  this  "  bid  "  to  others  of  a  more 
aristocratic  nature:  to  wit,  large  Christ- 
mas spreads  offered  to  their  kind  en 
masse,  but  with  less  personal  compliment 
in  the  invitation  and  a  suspicious  taint  of 
"  charity  "  in  the  motive. 

Close  upon  their  heels  came  the  old- 
sters :  half  a  dozen  of  Ludovic's  associates 
in  music,  whether  of  The  Thalia  or  the 
street  band;  bearded  sons  of  Deutsch- 
land,  rubicund,  merry,  sonorous-voiced, 
talking  incessantly  in  the  native  tongue, 
which  was  exchanged  for  English  more 
or  less  broken  as  they  were  introduced 
249 


Three  of  a  Kind 


with  much  ceremony  to  the  newsboys. 
As  for  Dun,  he  appeared  supremely  happy 
whether  addressed  in  English  or  German, 
—  a  truly  polyglot  animal. 

At  once  the  room  rang  with  cheerful 
noise.  Holy-night  greetings  flew  thick 
and  fast  and  the  boys,  abashed  no  whit 
by  the  presence  of  members  of  the  Musik- 
Verein,  several  of  whom  were  already 
familiar  to  them  as  street  players, 
gathered  about  Phil  and  Dun  as  a  centre, 
and,  in  their  shrill,  eager  young  voices 
discussed  life  in  terms  of  their  daily 
experience.  In  an  assemblage  more  fash- 
ionable there  might  have  been  some 
difficulty  in  the  mingling  of  such  disparate 
elements ;  not  so  here,  —  for  no  one 
had  a  position  to  maintain.  They  were 
come  with  the  common  object  of  a  jovial 
time  and  in  the  spirit  of  fellowship.  Sev- 
eral of  the  lads  might  have  been  seen 
250 


Christmas  Eve 


sidling  surreptitiously  up  to  Ludovic  and 
conveying  from  their  pockets  into  his 
keeping,  certain  small  packages,  which  at 
the  first  opportunity  were  then  tied  on  to 
the  tree  by  the  host,  whose  face,  during 
this  service  of  loving-kindness,  was  a 
study  in  genial  contentment.  The  air 
was  soon  blue  with  tobacco  smoke  which 
(perhaps  happily  from  a  non-Germanic 
point  of  view)  dominated  the  odors  arising 
from  the  table  dainties  already  described. 
It  had  been  Ludovic's  original  intention 
to  impersonate  Santa  Glaus  —  the  well 
loved  Kriss  Kringle  of  his  youth :  and  a 
glorious  Santa  would  he  have  made,  be- 
yond peradvenure;  he  looked  the  part 
even  without  a  makeup.  He  had  thought 
to  dispense  the  presents  thus,  after  the 
manner  approved  by  the  nations  and  the 
centuries.  But  this  part  of  the  program 
had  been  modified  because  of  Dun,  who, 
251 


Three  of  a  Kind 


as  has  been  hitherto  hinted,  had  been 
specially  coached  to  produce  the  novelty 
of  the  evening. 

In  one  corner  of  the  room  congratula- 
tions were  being  heaped  upon  the  violinist, 
who  had  that  very  day  been  notified  of 
his  re-appointment  at  The  Thalia,  the 
engagement  to  begin  with  the  New  Year 
—  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  con- 
freres :  their  hearty  prosits  when  the  beer 
was  broached  (there  were  soft  drinks  for 
the  boys),  bespoke  the  genuine  good- will 
with  which  they  would  welcome  back 
their  music-mate.  Sternberg's  retirement 
evoked  hearty  commendation.  One 
round  and  rosy  man,  drawing  Ludovic 
aside  a  moment,  and  laying  his  fat  finger 
in  a  gesture  full  of  dark  mystery  on  the 
side  of  a  nose  which  was  the  color  pivot 
of  his  face,  whispered :  "  Und  dey  wTill 
some  day,  vielleicht,  have  a  leader  mit  de 
252 


Christmas  Eve 


name  of  lleffner,  what  you  say  ?  Gott  im 
Himmel  nochmal!  "  which  was  followed 
by  a  poke  in  the  ribs  that  made  the  musi- 
cian wince,  though  he  smiled  broadly 
upon  the  kindly  old  gossip. 

A  shrill  chorus  of  laughter  from  another 
corner  where  the  younger  guests  clustered 
around  Dun  as  a  storm-centre,  now  drew 
general  attention ;  the  poor  beast,  driven 
almost  frantic  by  his  unaccustomed  deco- 
ration, had  made  a  bold  sally  for  liberty ; 
the  last  straw  to  endure  had  been  an  extra 
piece  of  gay  ribbon  tied  around  his 
charmingly  curled  tail  by  a  mischievous 
fellow,  who  had  learned  before  this  that 
Dun  was  as  sensitive  about  liberties  taken 
with  his  caudal  appendage,  as  is  a  China- 
man with  regard  to  his  pig-tail.  So  now 
the  animal  was  alternatingly  chasing  him- 
self in  dizzy  circles  and  madly  trying  to 
pry  off  with  his  front  paws  the  offending 
253 


Three  of  a  Kind 


head-gear.  It  was  necessary  for  Phil  to 
administer  several  ameliatory  chocolate 
drops,  before  even  temporary  peace  could 
be  restored  and  Dun  conclude  philo- 
sophically that  his  Christmas  embellish- 
ments were  a  necessary  part  of  the  eve- 
ning's festal  character. 

But  now  Ludovic,  stationing  himself 
near  the  tree,  clapped  his  hands  for  order ; 
and  a  hush  of  silence  fell  upon  the  room. 

"Well,  my  friends,"  he  said,  "we  haf 
a  few  leedle  gifts  to  distribute;  nothing 
much,  das  ist  wahr,  but  a  token  of  the  day 
for  you  all  together.  And  Phil,  verstehen 
Sie  wohl,  he  is — what  you  call  Master  cf 
the  Ceremonies."  And  with  a  bow  so  cour- 
teous that  a  Beau  Brummel  might  have 
turned  in  his  grave  for  envy,  he  waved 
the  boy  to  his  place  and  stepped  aside. 

Phil,  his  eyes  glistening,  at  once  took 
up  his  station  beside  the  seasonable  tree, 
254 


Christinas  Eve 


which  was  now  at  full  candle-power,  a 
blaze  of  light,  and  called  briskly,  "  Dun, 
get  a  present !  "  Whereupon,  to  the 
complete  amazement  of  the  musicians 
and  newsboys,  the  dog,  who  had  for  some 
minutes  been  held  in  leash  with  difficulty, 
his  tail  violently  demonstrative,  rushed  to 
the  tree,  and  rising  to  a  human  posture, 
plucked  off  from  one  of  the  lower  branches 
a  ribbon,  to  which  a  gift  was  attached: 
then  held  it  up  to  Phil,  who  read  the  name 
and  handed  it  to  the  proper  recipient,  as 
he  stepped  out  to  take  it. 

At  the  successful  accomplishment  of 
this  feat  for  the  first  time,  the  applause 
was  long  and  hearty:  and  Dun,  his 
whole  soul  obviouslv  in  the  business, 

«/ 

rapidly  denuded  the  green  boughs,  the 
Master  of  Ceremonies  bending  down  the 
branches  when  they  were  too  lofty  for  the 
canine  reach. 

255 


Three  of  a  Kind 


Simple  and  inexpensive  were  the  gifts, 
but  useful,  appropriate,  showing  genu- 
ine thoughtfulness ;  and  right  heartily 
offered  and  received.  They  were  pro- 
ductive of  more  merriment,  and  went 
further  to  meet  real  human  needs,  than  is 
often  true  of  the  perfunctory  and  imper- 
sonal present-making  of  those  whose 
purse  is  plethoric. 

To  one  comrade,  for  instance,  Ludovic 
had  presented  a  carefully  prepared  manu- 
script copy  of  the  Hilda  song,  done  in  the 
neatest  German  script,  with  certain  illum- 
inated initial  letters  —  the  work  of  a  Ger- 
man friend  in  the  neighborhood  who  was  a 
member  of  a  handicraft  guild.  To  an- 
other, whose  love  for  the  great  lyrist  of  the 
fatherland  was  a  passion,  went  the  frag- 
ments of  an  autograph  letter  by  Heine, 
neatly  framed :  a  treasure  acquired  by  the 
old  musician  before  coming  to  this  coun- 
256 


Christmas  Eve 


try.  The  burly  fellow  with  the  deep  voice, 
who  had  been  especially  active  in  the  agi- 
tation to  reinstate  Ludovic  in  his  orchestra 
seat,  was  quite  overcome  to  receive  a  fine 
new  meerschaum  which  had  been  taken 
somewhat  unwillingly  by  the  violinist  in 
payment  for  a  small  debt  incurred  by  that 
worthy  woman,  Mrs.  Heckelspeiser,  mis- 
tress of  Ludovic's  favorite  delicatessen 
shop :  in  truth,  so  friendly  was  he  to  her 
and  her  wares,  that  neighborly  rumor  had 
gone  so  far  as  to  suggest  the  possible 
eventual  union  of  musician  and  matron ; 
an  idea  as  foundationless  as  neighborly 
rumors  usually  are. 

Nor  were  the  boys  slighted.  When 
Tom  Phelan,  special  chum  of  Phil's,  un- 
wrapped a  mysterious  piece  of  brown 
paper  to  reveal  a  glittering  dagger  of 
foreign  make,  whose  bright  blade  darted 
out  at  the  pressure  of  a  spring,  veritable 
257 


Three  of  a  Kind 


awe  seemed  to  fall  upon  the  younger 
members  of  the  company :  this  was  a 
pitch  above  their  fondest  hopes.  They 
felt  dignified  even  in  knowing  one  who 
henceforth  might  carry  and  carelessly 
display  such  a  romantic  weapon.  It  was 
such  a  useless,  splendid,  imaginative  gift 
—  infinitely  more  welcome  because  of  its 
esoteric  note,  its  remote,  dim,  foreign 
suggestion. 

One  boy  was  greatly  tickled  over  a 
pretty  picture-frame,  which  he  confided 
to  an  especial  friend  present,  with  a 
shamefaced  snicker,  should  hold  the  tin- 
type of  "  me  best  gal."  Another  had 
unconsciously  straightened  up  with  an 
access  of  pride,  in  having  handed  to 
him  a  neat  little  leather  case  containing 
the  simpler  toilet  articles.  A  new  regime 
in  the  care  of  his  person,  it  was  likely, 
would  begin  from  this  night :  his  acquaint- 
258 


Christmas  Eve 


ances  waxed  argumentative  over  the 
nail  polisher,  which  one  of  them  insisted 
was  for  the  rubbing  into  a  shiny  state  of 
the  human  nose,  as  the  years  brought  it 
into  a  condition  of  blushing  prosperity. 

It  is  really  quite  wonderful  how  much 
you  can  give  when  you  have  little  or 
nothing  to  give  with.  Ludovic's  gift  to 
Phil  is  worth  special  mention ;  it  was  his 
mother's  letter  to  the  violinist,  her  lost 
sweetheart.  Ludovic  had  it  laid  reveren- 
tially in  a  little  russia  leather  case  pur- 
chased (most  extravagantly)  for  the  pur- 
pose; Phil  took  it  without  a  word  and 
shyly  abstained  from  showing  it  to  the 
guests,  though  pressed  to  do  so;  but 
that  night,  when  they  were  gone,  he 
unlocked  the  door  of  his  bank  and 
deposited  it  therein :  as  precious  a  bit  of 
paper  as  ever  bank,  big  or  little,  held. 

When  the  presents  were  all  distributed, 
259 


Three  of  a  Kind 


and  Dun,  warmed  to  his  work,  seemed  as 
disconsolate  as  Alexander  because  there 
were  no  more  worlds  to  conquer,  the  old 
musician  again  stept  forth  into  the  full 
light,  and  held  up  his  hand  for  attention : 

"  I  have  a  gift  yet,  a  gift  what  is  not  on 
the  tree,  good  peoples:  a  gift  to  myself 
that  I  wish  that  you  shall  know."  He 
paused.  His  voice,  always  so  responsive 
to  his  mood  and  emotion,  was  indicative 
of  a  deeper  feeling  than  he  had  betrayed 
before  this  night.  Clearing  his  throat,  he 
went  on,  his  mobile  face  standing  out 
dramatically  in  the  candle  light,  in  front 
of  the  impressed  group  of  friends,  with  the 
dark-toned  old  room  for  a  background : 

"  My  dear  friends  and  companions  — 
and  Phil's  dear  friends  too,"  -  a  gracious 
bow  towards  the  newsboys,  -  "  you 
have  known  me,  that  I  am  a  lonesome 
old  fellow  up  here  under  the  roof  with  my 
260 


Christmas  Eve 


fiddle:  I  did  not  know  how  lonesome  I 
was.  Then  my  —  my  young  friend,  Phil, 
he  come  and  keep  me  company.  Ja 
wohl,  .we  keep  house  together  mil." 

He  smiled  tenderly  at  the  lad:  a 
sympathetic  murmur  ran  about  among 
his  hearers. 

"  Only  a  few  days  ago  I  learned  some- 
dings  :  a — a — a —  dear  old  friend  of  mine, 
a  lady  who  is  now  an  Engel  in  Heaven  " 
he  paused  and  with  utmost  simplicity  and 
a  natural  dignity  that  was  part  of  his 
personality,  lifted  his  hand  as  if  in  salute 
to  a  saintly  memory.  There  was  nothing 
strained  or  out  of  key  in  the  act  to  his 
audience,  which  now  listened  almost  with 
a  kind  of  wonder,  for  the  fiddler's  face 
was  aglow  with  a  high  emotion : 

'  This  lady,  she  write  me  a  letter  and 
it  say  she  haf  a  child,  a  leetle  son,  —  and 
she  ask  me  to  watch  over  him  because 
261 


Three  of  a  Kind 


she  is  todt  —  dead.  But  how  find  I  that 
boy  ?  God  is  good,  iny  friends,  and  I 
learned  de  other  day  that  Phil  here, 
whom  I  love  already  like  he  was  mine,  he 
is  the  boy,  the  lady's  son,  and  therefore 
MY  son.  That  is  my  gift,  my  gift  from 
the  good  Herr  Gott;  and  it  comes  with 
the  Christfest.  I  have  here "  -  he  drew 
some  official  looking  papers  from  the 
pocket  of  the  black  coat  —  "I  have  here 
de  papers  dat  make  Phil  my  son:  his 
name  it  is  Phil  Heffner;  hereafter  he 
belongs  to  me  —  und  I  belong  to  him.  I 
ask  you  to  —  to  witness  this  adoption, 
my  good  friends,  and  to  rejoice  with  me : 
for  the  son  has  come  to  the  father,  he  was 
lost  und  is  found." 

The    silence    was    deep    in    the    low- 
studded  room  up  under  the  eaves.    Even 
the  newsboys  felt  the  rich  human  meaning 
of  the  moment  and  hushed  their  voices. 
262 


Christmas  Eve 


Then  the  spell  was  broken:  the  musi- 
cians with  loud  acclamations  greeted  the 
pair  of  friends  who  had  discovered  a  tie 
so  vital  —  more  vital  than  any  tie  of 
blood,  a  tie  based  on  an  old  love,  glorified 
by  the  imagination  and  sanctified  by  a 
memory  that  overleaped  a  grave.  Phil's 
friends  were  filled  with  unselfish  wonder 
and  glee  over  his  strange  good  luck :  and 
soon  the  rattle  of  dishes  betokened  that 
all  had  turned  to  food  and  drink,  —  the 
most  natural  and  efficacious  outlet  for 
human  emotions.  The  refreshments  in- 
deed were  enjoyed  far  beyond  their 
merits,  for  the  simple  and  sufficient  reason 
that  to  the  small  gathering  of  incon- 
spicuous human  beings  a  meal  was  some- 
thing more  than  a  meal :  being  an  expres- 
sion of  fellow  feeling,  a  symbol  of  good- 
will on  earth. 

After  the  supper  there  was  music,  of  an 
263 


Three  of  a  Kind 


excellent  quality  too.  Instruments  were 
drawn  from  their  cases  or  green  baize 
coverings,  and  out  of  honor  to  their  host, 
the  Hilda  song  was  played,  with  rare 
expression  and  fervor;  and,  responding 
to  a  vociferous  demand,  Ludovic  snuggled 
the  brown  old  "  Strad,"  as  he  whimsically 
called  his  best  instrument,  under  his  chin 
and  sang  to  a  violin  obligato  with  a  voice 
which,  at  first  a  trifle  shaky,  gathered 
volume  and  vibrancy  as  he  approached  the 
climax,  the  "  Wacht  am  Rhein,"  letting 
loose,  as  only  a  German  can,  all  its  splen- 
did passion  and  deep  sense  of  fatherland. 
It  would  have  warmed  the  cockles  of  your 
heart  to  see  him,  and  to  listen  to  the  way 
in  which  the  other  Deutschers  chimed  in 
with  the  mighty  chorus,  making  the  dark 
old  rafters  ring  again  and  again. 

Ludovic  and  Phil,  their  guests  departed, 
the  brave  Christmas  lights  out,  were  to- 
264 


Christmas  Eve 


gether  before  the  ruddy  glow  of  the  open 
wood  fire,  with  Dun,  weary  and  happy,  at 
their  feet.  The  boy  had  thrown  himself 
in  an  attitude  of  unstudied  grace  on  the 
floor;  his  hand  had  stolen  into  that  of 
the  musician's,  his  head  leaned  against 
the  other's  knee.  Gently,  wTith  caressing 
finger-tips,  Ludovic  stroked  his  shock  of 
brown  hair. 

"  Und  to-morrow,  it  is  Christmas  Day." 
He  spoke  in  a  low,  musing  tone,  almost 
as  if  he  feared  to  break  a  spell.  "  We 
shall  take  a  holiday,  nicht,  mein  Phil  ? 
We  shall  go  where  thou  wilt,  and  it  shall 
be  that  thy  mother  "  -  his  voice  instinc- 
tively sounded  to  another  key,  —  "  she 
will  be  mit  us  in  heart,  ja,  ever  with  us, 
my  child.  We  shall  be  very  happy,  to- 
morrow." 

Just  here,  Dun,  sitting  up  on  his 
haunches,  seemed  to  feel  that  at  this 
265 


Three  of  a  Kind 


intimate  hour  he  was  not  given  his  full 
share  of  confidence  and  affection:  he 
whined  plaintively  —  perhaps  to  assert 
his  own  peculiar  claim  to  kinship  —  the 
widest  in  all  the  world:  the  kinship  of 
loving-kindness.  Repeating  the  ingratia- 
ting whine,  he  set  his  two  paws  upon  the 
musician's  knee:  the  action  said  more 
persuasively  than  words :  "  I,  too,  am 
I  not  of  the  three,  adopted  into  and  of  the 
house  of  Heffner  forever  ?  Love  me  also, 
my  masters,  even  as  my  service  and  iny 
life  are  yours." 

Both  boy  and  man  rested  their  hands 
gently  on  the  wavy  black  hair  of  the  faith- 
ful dog,  whose  eloquent  eyes  looked  up 
at  them  with  an  unutterable  fealty. 

A  bell,  solemn,  slow,  struck  the  mid- 
night hour :  before  long,  now,  the 
shadows  would  give  way  to  the  ghostly 
half-light  of  the  dawn,  making  mystery  of 
266 


BOTH     HOT    AND     MAN    RESTED     THEIR     HANDS     GENTLY     ON     THE 
WAVY    BLACK    HAIR    OF    THE    FAITHFtTL    DOG. 

[Page  266. 


Christmas  Eve 


the  multitudinous  city  roofs.  But  with 
the  coming  of  the  sun,  those  shadows 
would  fleet  away  and  the  more  jubilant 
morning  bells  of  the  merry  season  ring 
in  the  Birth  Wonderful,  Good  Will  to 
Men.  Hark!  Even  while  they  listened, 
the  great  tumultuous  chorus  of  joy  and 
hope  and  good  cheer  began  to  sound  from 
the  steeples.  These  comrades,  hereafter, 
had  memories  dear,  unforgettable,  only 
gaining  in  strength  and  significance  with 
the  years:  binding  them  ever  closer  to- 
gether. They  could  face  the  New  Year, 
sustained,  whether  in  their  work  or  their 
play,  through  whatever  of  joy  or  sorrow 
might  be  their  common  human  lot,  by  a 
beautiful,  wistful  recollection  and  by  the 
magic  of  a  mighty  love. 

THE   END. 


267 


A  joyous  story.  —  Brooklyn  Eayle. 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
CHARLES  EDWARD 


By  HARRISON  RHODES 

Illustrated  by  Penrhyn  Stanlaws 
Cloth,  $1.50 


The  fan  is  genuine.  —  New  York  Sun. 

The  humor  is  subtle  and  delicious.  —  Boston  Herald. 

One  long  series  of  chuckles.  —  St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat. 

A  most  refreshing  novel,  gay,  amusing,  and  fascinating. 

—  London  Sketch. 

Nothing  better  in  a  light  comedy  vein  has  been  issued 
this  season.  —  Springfield  Union. 

A  lively,  humorous  story  which  will  leave  the  reader 
with  a  hearty  liking  for  its  hero  and  heroine.  —  Baltimore 
American. 

The  book  is  enriched  by  numerous  illustrations  of 
Mr.  Stanlaw's  peculiarly  happy  and  up-to-date  type. — 
Baltimore  Sun. 

Charles  Edward  is  as  pleasing  a  person  as  one  could 
meet  in  many  a  day.  He  has  a  most  unusual  sense  of 
humor  and  a  delight  in  the  ludicrous  and  the  unexpected. 

—  The  Bookman. 


LITTLE,   BROWN,   &   CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
254  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON 


(Mr.  Oppenheim's  sixteenth  novel — and  his  best" 


THE  AVENGEK 


By  E.  PHILLIPS   OPPENHEIM 
Fully  Illustrated.     Cloth,  $1.50 


A  lively,  thrilling,  captivating  story.  —  New  York  Times 
Saturday  Review. 

It  shows  power  and  a  sense  of  the  dramatic  value  of  the 
unexpected.  —  London  Evening  News. 

A  capital  specimen  of  the  Oppenheim  novel,  showing  Mr. 
Oppenheim  at  his  best.  —  New  York  World. 

By  far  the  cleverest  plot  Mr.  Oppenheim  has  invented 
is  introduced  in  this  story.  —  Book  News  Monthly. 

Probably  excels  any  book  yet  written  by  this  prolific 
and  ingenious  teller  of  stories.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

An  ingenious  and  exciting  mystery  tale.  The  solution 
of  the  mystery  is  wholly  unexpected.  • —  New  York  Sun. 

Mr.  Oppenheim  goes  forward  and  not  backward.  Each 
book  that  comes  from  his  pen  shows  a  superiority  in  plot, 
movement,  character  drawing,  and  literary  quality  over 
its  predecessors.  —  Chicago  Record  Herald. 

Not  one  reader  in  a  thousand  will  penetrate  the  secret 
of  this  murder  until  just  before  Mr.  Oppenheim  reveals  it, 
for  it  is  guarded  with  consummate  art.  .  .  .  The  plot  is 
one  of  the  best  that  Oppenheim  has  devised.  —  San  Fran- 
cisco Chronicle. 


LITTLE,    BROWN,   &    CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
254  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON 


A  fine  masterpiece  of  French  literature.  —  Boston  Times. 


By  PAUL  BOURGET 

Translated  by  GEORGE  BURNHAM  IVES 
12mo.     Cloth.     $1.50 


A  remarkable  book.  —  Providence  Journal. 

Easily  the  leader  among  recent  works  of  fiction.  —  New  York 
World. 

The  story  gains  immensely  in  vitality  over  his  earlier  work, 
because  he  has  put  his  heart  in  it.  —  Outlook,  New  York. 

There  is  a  profound  knowledge  of  human  character  that 
lifts  this  novel  above  the  plane  of  ordinary  fiction  writing.  — 
Springfield  Union. 

The  book  is  more  than  a  love  story  of  rare  excellence  ;  it  is 
a  picture  of  the  social  and  political  situation  in  the  France 
of  to-day. — New  Haven  Journal  and  Courier. 

Once  in  its  grip  there  is  no  escaping  its  tragic  pathos.  .  .  . 
The  story  is  especially  appealing  to  the  imagination. — 
Nathan  Haskell  Dole  in  New  York  Evening  Post. 

A  powerfully  told  story,  dramatic  and  porgnant.  It  touches 
the  great  emotions  and  lays  bare  people's  very  souls.  Paul 
Bourget  employs  high  literary  skill,  and  this  story  reveals 
his  mastery  of  the  art  of  making  fiction.  —  Philadelphia  Record. 


LITTLE,  BROWN,  &   CO.,  PUBLISHERS 
254  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON 


The  Book  President  Roosevelt  Recommends 


AUNT 
JANE  OF  KENTUCKY 


By  ELIZA   CALVERT   HALL 

Illustrated  by  Beulah  Strong.     12mo.     Cloth.     $1.50 


Aunt  Jane  is  perfectly  delightful.  —  The  Outlook,  New 
York. 

A  book  that  plays  on  the  heart  strings.  —  St.  Louis 
Post- Despatch. 

What  Mrs.  Gaskill  did  in  "  Cranford  "  this  author  does 
for  Kentucky.  —  Syracuse  Herald. 

A  prose  idyl.  Nothing  more  charming  has  appeared 
in  recent  fiction.  —  MARGARET  E.  SANGSTER. 

These  pages  have  in  them  much  of  the  stuff  that  makes 
genuine  literature.  —  Louisville  Courier  Journal. 

Where  so  many  have  made  caricatures  of  old-time 
country  folk,  Eliza  Calvert  Hall  has  caught  at  once  the 
real  charm,  the  real  spirit,  the  real  people,  and  the  real 
joy  of  living  which  was  theirs.  — New  York  Times. 

Have  you  read  that  charming  little  book  written  by  one 
of  your  clever  Kentucky  women  —  "  Aunt  Jane  of  Ken- 
tucky"—  by  Eliza  Calvert  Hall?  It  is  very  wholesome 
and  attractive.  Be  sure  that  you  read  it.  —  PRESIDENT 
THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 


LITTLE,  BROWN,  &    CO.,   PUBLISHERS 
254  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON 


A  on  i  I     Hill  HIM  [||   || 

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